St. Jude Medical Study Demonstrates Effectiveness of Implantable Device Monitoring in Predicting Stroke

It is common clinical knowledge that, given a patient who comes in with Atrial Fibrilation (AFib), you must either anticoagulate the patient for a sufficient period or take a look inside with an echocardiogram to look for clots before trying to electrically cardiovert them. The reason for this is that a clot sitting in the atrium could be dislodged and head straight for the brain, causing an embolic stroke.
According to a St. Jude Medical study, this risk of stroke holds true even if the episode of AFib or Atrial Tachycardia (ATach) is only a few seconds long and is completely asymptomatic. The study used the detection algorithms built into the patients’ pacemakers. The data from St. Jude devices was communicated to the Merlin.net monitoring system to record even brief episodes of AFib and ATach. The study, the ASymptomatic AF and Stroke Evaluation in Pacemaker Patients and the AF Reduction Atrial Pacing Trial (ASSERT), showed a 2.5-fold increase of strokes in patients who had device-detected arrhythmias compared to those who had none.
We’re in a time now when a tech-savvy doctor can get a message on his or her iPad from a pacemaker saying that Mr. Smith has had several brief episodes of AFib and ATach this week, prompting the doc to schedule an appointment (electronically, of course) to have Mr. Smith come to the office and discuss ways to reduce his stroke risk.
Press release: St. Jude Medical Announces Results of ASSERT Study Demonstrating Effectiveness of Implantable Device Monitoring in Predicting Stroke …