Remote Patient Management for Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices - A Pilot Study

Canada is a country with a diverse geography, of which 19% of the inhabitants are in communities classified as 'rural', but many may still have long distances to travel to reach a health care facility. This results in challenges in uniform delivery of health care throughout the country. There are 25,000 pacemaker (PM) implants and 7000 implantable defibrillator (ICD) implants yearly in Canada, with approximately 120 000 patients living with these devices. The recommended follow-up for these devices are based on consensus and position statements, with the majority of patients requiring at least yearly visits to a specialized device clinic during the lifetime of their device. During the life of these patients, many issues may arise, such as atrial or ventricular arrhythmias that may result in syncope, stroke or sudden death, need for increased monitoring resulting from device advisories, or minor programming adjustments to improve device performance, or simply the need for enhanced surveillance as the device battery depletes and replacement is anticipated.

While remote monitoring technology is currently available and has permitted surveillance and device assessment from any patient location accessible to a landline or mobile phone, the use has been inconsistent in Canada. In addition, new technology has become available that not only permits surveillance, but also remote programming of these devices. The incorporation of remote programming capability, along with automatic recalibration of device settings, allows us to develop a new paradigm of remote patient management where after the patient receives their device, they would remain in the care of their local health team and no longer require travel to the specialized 'hub' clinics for follow-up.