St. Jude Medical is releasing a new version of the Merlin.net remote monitoring system for patients with implanted cardiac devices. The system provides physicians, as well as St. Jude itself, with data from implants via a wireless at-home detector for analysis without having the patient come in for a visit.
The newest version of Merlin.net PCN, version 4.0, supports all radio-frequency (RF) St. Jude Medical implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), non-RF Epic™ ICDs, Atlas™ ICDs, Current™ ICDs and Promote™ CRT-D devices, and now also supports the Accent™ RF pacemaker and Anthem™ RF CRT-P (cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemaker).
The latest version of the Merlin.net PCN also features the DirectTrend™ Viewer reporting capability, which can be used to enhance visibility into patient trends to simplify patient management and enhance clinical insight. The DirectTrend Viewer reporting feature allows physicians to track data over time related to clinical events, alerts, and recent transmissions.
To better assist physicians in accurately diagnosing and managing patients with fast rates in the heart’s upper chambers (atria), the DirectAlerts Notification feature on the Merlin.net PCN works with the Accent RF and Anthem RF devices, and Promote™ Accel, Current™ Accel and AnalyST™ Accel devices to include a new AT/AF Alert feature. This feature is designed to notify physicians when a rapid atrial rate – atrial tachycardia or atrial fibrillation (AT/AF) – exceeds a programmed value or occurs over an extended time period. The devices also can be programmed to notify the patient of AT/AF episodes, as well as device- and lead-related issues, through a two-tone audible alert in low voltage devices, or a vibrating patient notifier in high voltage devices. These features will allow the physician to more proactively manage patients’ atrial arrhythmias, such as AF.
Version 4.0 of the Merlin.net PCN also enables remote monitoring of ST segment shifts, which are able to be detected by the AnalyST™ and AnalyST Accel ICD.
Press release: St. Jude Medical Announces European Launch of New Version of Remote Patient Care Network
Flashbacks: Merlin.net Going Live in Europe; St. Jude’s Merlin.net System Gets an Update; St. Jude Introduces Merlin@home Transmitter for Monitoring of Implanted Cardiac Devices
