Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Pacemaker phones send heart data to doctor

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 08 Aug 2003 02:46:43 -0400

Pacemaker phones send heart data to doctor
Source: Chicago Sun - Times
Publication date: 2001-10-12
Arrival time: 2003-08-07

WASHINGTON--The government has approved a pacemaker outfitted with
a tiny transmitter that can tell your doctor how your heart is doing--the first
medical implant capable of such real-time monitoring. The Biotronik Home
Monitoring System essentially provides a house call any time of day
without doctor or patient taking any special steps. It's the first in an
expected wave of medical devices that will let doctors track the chronically
ill day- by-day in an effort to keep their conditions from worsening between
office visits.

"This is an exciting development," Dr. Stuart Portnoy of the Food and Drug
Administration said of the Biotronik device, which won FDA approval
Thursday.

Pacemakers contain recorders that track heartbeat, how often the devices
zap the heart back into rhythm, and other data. Instead of requiring a
doctor visit to download all data, Biotronik Inc. inserted a transmitter inside
a pacemaker to send the data to a cell phone-like device the patient keeps
nearby. That gadget then calls a central computer that downloads the data
wirelessly, and sends the medical record to the doctor's office. That
means instead of a doctor checking a patient's condition once every six
months, he or she can customize the monitor to check it weekly or even
daily.

Patients' only restriction: The receiver must be kept within 6 feet of the
body to receive transmissions. Patients can wear the receiver on a belt or
carry it in a purse--or, as Biotronik suggests, doctors can program the
transmission to occur at 2 a.m. every day and patients simply can keep
the receiver by their bed.

An added feature: If patients feel bad, they can hold a special magnet in
front of the chest that will signal the pacemaker to transmit right away, so
doctors can see even more quickly if the condition is worsening, said Mark
Johnson of Biotronik. The pacemaker and monitor--including
Biotronik-provided digital service for the cellular phone calls--will cost about
$5,000, comparable to standard pacemakers, Johnson said.

http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=40719015&ID=cnniw&scategory=Telecommunications%3AWireless&

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