These newly FDA approved implantable cardiac monitor models from Medtronic offer cardiologists and their patients an opportunity to monitor 24/7 for potentially life-threatening arrhythmias, such as ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VT), fast VTs, bradyarrhythmias and asystole:
The Reveal DX will be commercially available in the United States beginning next week; the Reveal XT will follow.
The Reveal DX continuously monitors the heart’s electrical activity in order to help physicians diagnose whether or not symptoms such as fainting, dizziness and unexplained seizure-like episodes have a cardiovascular cause. Causes of syncope can be heart rhythm disturbances or abnormalities in the structure of the heart. Syncope can lead to serious injury or can be a precursor to sudden cardiac death. Approximately 1.5 million people worldwide suffer from unexplained syncope. In almost 10 percent of patients, syncope has a cardiac cause; in 50 percent, a non-cardiac cause; and in 40 percent of patients the cause of syncope is unknown. It is a leading cause of emergency room visits. Syncope is difficult to diagnose as syncopal episodes are often too infrequent and unpredictable for detection with conventional monitoring techniques…
Placed just under the skin of the chest area using local anesthesia during a simple outpatient procedure, the Reveal DX monitor records important cardiac rhythm data, which may help a physician to diagnose the patient so the appropriate treatment can be undertaken. The device weighs just 15 grams and is approximately the size of a memory stick; unlike a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, there are no leads (tiny wires) that extend from the device into the heart’s chamber(s). To store an electrocardiogram (ECG) at the time of an episode, a patient places a hand-held, pager-sized activator over the device, and presses a button. Later a physician analyzes the stored information and determines if the episode was caused by an abnormal heart rhythm.
Press release: Medtronic Implantable Cardiac Monitors Give Physicians Valuable Insights Into Heart Rhythms …
Medronic UK product pages: Reveal DX Insertable Cardiac Monitor …; Reveal XT …