Cardiovascular physicians at UHealth – University of Miami Health System are the first in Florida to implant a new miniaturized, wireless monitoring sensor to manage heart failure. The CardioMEMS HF System has been shown to reduce hospital admissions by more than one-third when used by physicians to manage heart failure. It was implanted at University of Miami Hospital, the flagship hospital of UHealth.The CardioMEMS HF System, the first and only FDA-approved heart failure monitoring device, features a sensor that is implanted in the pulmonary artery (PA) during a non-surgical procedure to directly measure PA pressure. Increased PA pressures appear before weight and blood pressure changes, which are often used as indirect measures of worsening heart failure, a condition that affects more than 5.1 million people in the U.S.
The new system allows patients to transmit daily sensor readings from their homes to their healthcare providers, allowing for personalized and proactive management to reduce the likelihood of hospitalization.
“This innovative technology provides us with an efficient method of detecting changes that will allow us to intervene with heart failure patients sooner, improving their outcomes and significantly reducing their healthcare costs,” said Sandra V. Chaparro, M.D., assistant professor of medicine in the Cardiovascular Division and Director of the Heart Failure Clinic at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who performed the first procedure October 20. “The CardioMEMS device also gives the patient the added benefit of knowing they can be monitored more closely, which can greatly decrease their time in the hospital.”
The CardioMEMS sensor is designed to last the lifetime of the patient and does not require batteries. Once implanted, the wireless sensor sends pressure readings to an external patient electronic system and there is no pain or sensation for the patient during the readings. The CardioMEMS HF System allows the patient to transmit critical information about their heart failure status to a clinician on a regular basis, without the need for additional clinic or hospital visits. This allows clinicians to detect worsening heart failure sooner and adjust treatment to reduce the likelihood that the patient will need to be hospitalized.
