Remote cardiac monitoring network reaches 50,000 patients
18 November 2005
Minneapolis, USA. The Medtronic CareLink Network has enrolled 50,000
patients and registered over 120,000 data downloads since its launch in
2002. The network is open to patients with certain implantable cardiac
devices, including virtually all models of Medtronic implantable
cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), combination cardiac resynchronization
therapy (CRT)-ICDs, and several of its pacemakers.
The Medtronic CareLink Network was the first Internet-based system to
help physicians and patients better manage chronic cardiovascular disease
treated by implantable device therapy. The system allows patients to receive
expert medical advice from their physician while at home or travelling,
potentially saving multiple trips per year to the physician's office.
The Network enables patients to transmit data from their implantable
device, as instructed by their physician, from anywhere in the 50 states
using a portable monitor that is connected to a standard telephone line.
Within minutes, the patient's physician and nurses can view the data on a
secure Internet Web site. The information, which is comparable to the
information provided during an in-clinic device follow-up visit, provides
the physician with a view of how the device and patient's heart are
operating.
The system provides an efficient, safe and convenient way for specialty
physicians to remotely monitor the condition of their patients, and if
needed, make adjustments to medication or prescribe additional therapy. Once
patients begin using the service, they typically transmit data from their
implanted devices three times a year.
"As an organization, Medtronic has continually evolved from simply using
device therapy to manage cardiac rhythms to a holistic focus on cardiac
disease management — pairing therapies that treat heart rhythms with
innovative diagnostics and monitoring to help physicians better manage their
patients' overall cardiac disease," said Steve Mahle, president, Medtronic
Cardiac Rhythm Management. "The Medtronic CareLink Network has allowed us to
be on the cutting-edge of patient management, expanding how physicians and
patients interact, and providing solutions for the care of cardiac patients
around the globe."
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