First in the Nation to Reach This Procedural Milestone

Deborah Heart and Lung Center, New Jersey’s only specialty heart, lung and vascular center — and an Alliance member of the Cleveland Clinic Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute —  implanted its 100^th Bluetooth^® enabled defibrillator into a patient. Deborah is the first in the nation to reach this procedural milestone.

This Bluetooth-enabled technology program has grown exponentially since last November when the Hospital first implanted Abbott Gallant™ implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) devices, with a high voltage smartphone app and Bluetooth communication, which provides remote monitoring for patients with abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure.

At the time of the first device implant, Raffaele Corbisiero, MD, Deborah’s Director of Electrophysiology Services said: “This is the next step forward in supporting our heart arrhythmia patients, and as a way of further bonding the patient-physician relationship. Having an immediate feedback loop through a patient’s smartphone provides a major step forward in staying ahead of any worsening conditions. This will be a tremendous health benefit to our patients, as well as providing a very convenient option for remote monitoring of their heart health.”

Since then the use of the Bluetooth technology has exceeded expectations for both physicians and patients.

“We are more than impressed with how useful this device has been,” added Corbisiero. “We have caught numerous early-warning instances of patients with worsening conditions which has allowed us to be proactive in managing the symptoms. It is so easy to use the smartphone app that patients have become more engaged in managing their own data and have been proactive on managing their own symptoms also. This is a win-win for everyone, and I expect that this technology will be routinely used moving forward.”

The new Gallant system pairs with Abbott’s secure myMerlinPulse™, an intuitive mobile smartphone application designed to help streamline communication between doctors and their patients. The app provides access to data, device performance, and transmission history, which helps people take an active role in their healthcare. Through the myMerlinPulse app, physicians can continuously monitor their patients remotely allowing for identification of asymptomatic episodes as well as patient-triggered transmissions, which can lead to earlier intervention.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is estimated that as many as 6.1 million people in the United States battle cardiac arrhythmias, or abnormal heart rhythms. ICDs are often recommended to help reduce the risks of life-threatening arrhythmias. For patients with heart failure or in situations when the heart’s chambers beat out of sync, CRT-Ds can be used to restore the heart’s natural pattern of beating.