AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — On Nov. 14, 2017, Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute (TCAI) at St. David’s Medical Center became the first hospital in Texas—and among the first in the nation—to use the new smartphone compatible Confirm Rx™ Insertable Cardiac Monitor (ICM), the world’s first and only smartphone compatible ICM designed to help physicians identify even the most difficult-to-detect cardiac arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation (A Fib)—as well as monitor cardiac arrhythmias—remotely.
The Confirm Rx ICM is designed to continuously monitor a patient’s heart rhythm and proactively transmit information via Bluetooth wireless technology to a mobile app, allowing physicians to track their patients remotely and accurately diagnose arrhythmias that may require further treatment.
“What differentiates the Confirm Rx ICM from other implantable monitors is that it doesn’t require a home base station to transmit information,” Robert Canby, M.D., a cardiac electrophysiologist at TCAI, said. “Instead, it utilizes a secure Bluetooth wireless connection to transmit that data to the patient’s smartphone or tablet. This allows the data to then be immediately sent to a monitoring station, rather than waiting until the patient returns home to connect to a base station.”
The Confirm RX ICM is implanted just under the skin in the chest during a quick, minimally-invasive outpatient procedure. Once implanted, it continuously monitors heart rhythms to detect a range of cardiac arrhythmias, including irregular heartbeats, such as A Fib.
An arrhythmia is an abnormal heart rhythm that develops when disease or injury disrupts the heart’s electrical signals, causing the heart to beat erratically. As the heart begins to beat too fast or too slow, changes in blood flow can expose patients to symptoms such as palpitations, dizziness, shortness of breath or fainting. Left untreated, A Fib can lead to stroke.
While the Confirm Rx ICM continuously monitors for abnormal heart rhythms and transmits data to a patient’s physician, the compatible app also allows patients to track symptoms proactively, sync their data with their clinic at any time and view their transmission history without having to contact their clinic to confirm successful data transfers.
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SOURCE Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute (TCAI) at St. David’s Medical Center
