Patients See Remote Monitoring of Cardioverters as Beneficial

Article

Not all the news on remote monitoring of cardiac devices was bad at the ESC Congress 2016. Though a UK study had negative findings,Italian researchers said their use reduced office and ED visits and saved patients time and money.

Not all the news about remote monitoring presented at the European Society of Cardiology's ESC Congress 2016 was bad.

In a study called MORE-CARE lead investigator Giuseppe Boriani, MD, PhD, of the University of Modena, Modena, Italy and colleagues said the team's study of heart failure patients had some positive findings.

Though confirming that the monitoring of these patients did not determine that patients lived longer, it did show that those who got the devices--biventricular defibrillators--said they liked the fact that they needed to make fewer trips to physicians' offices or to hospital emergency rooms.

The study looked at over 900 patients who got the devices.

Half were monitored electronically every other week and went to a doctor's office on alternate weeks. The control group had all their health checks done in an office setting.

Boriani said there was no apparent health benefit to the monitoring, but that patients reported saving time and money by being able to skip half of the weekly visits.

"From a patient perspective over the two years it saved them money," he said.

He calculated that there was also a savings to health systems with a 41% reduction in office visits.

Related Videos
Heart Failure stock imagery. | Credit: Fotolia
Addressing HS Risks at the Genetic Level, with Kai Li, BSc
Building a Psoriasis Knockout Regimen Around Risankizumab, with Andrew Blauvelt, MD, MBA
Joel Gelfand, MD, MSCE: Phototherapy Utility in Psoriasis
Pediatric Hidradenitis Suppurativa Severity not Linked to Obesity
© 2024 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.