New Miniature Remote Cardiac Monitor Gives Physicians Quick and Accurate Tool to Diagnose and Monitor Irregular Heartbeats
Sujoya Dey, MD, Marin General Hospital Haynes Cardiovascular Institute, is among first in Bay Area to use new device
GREENBRAE, CA — A tiny wireless remote monitoring device, approximately one-third the size of a AAA battery, which when implanted just under a patient’s skin can accurately and remotely diagnose and monitor irregular heartbeats, is now available to residents of Marin through Marin General Hospital’s Haynes Cardiovascular Institute. Electrophysiologist Sujoya Dey, MD is among the first physicians in the Bay Area to have used the device, one of the newest technologies in cardiac care, implanting it in one of her patients – a 52-year-old Marin County man – to help diagnose possible short circuits in the electrical system of his heart.
The Reveal LINQ Insertable Cardiac Monitor (ICM) is manufactured by Medtronic and is the smallest implantable cardiac monitoring device available. Placed just beneath the skin through a small incision – less than 1 cm in the upper left side of the chest, the ICM, allows physicians to continuously and wirelessly monitor a patient’s heart for up to three years. Remote cardiac monitoring is used to diagnose patients who experience symptoms such as dizziness, palpitations, fainting and chest pain that may suggest a cardiac arrhythmia, and for patients at increased risk for cardiac arrhythmias.
“All of us at the Haynes Cardiovascular Institute are excited that the community now will have access to this new advancement in remote cardiac monitoring,” says Dr. Dey. “Miniaturization and ease of implantation makes the experience simpler for physician and patient, while at the same time providing significantly more information than we were able to collect previously.”
In addition to its continuous and wireless monitoring capabilities, the system provides remote monitoring through Medtronic’s Carelink® Network which connects cardiac device patients to their physicians from home or away. Global cellular technology in the device enables a patients’ diagnostic data to be sent to their physicians from nearly any location in the world.
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