WASHINGTON, D.C.—Cellular is making waves in the healthcare industry with a new device capable of monitoring heart patients’ conditions. The FDA has approved the Biotronik Home Monitoring System, a pacemaker capable of remote, real-time monitoring. The device uses cell phone signals to send health information from the pacemaker to the doctor without requiring anything of the patient.
“The next steps of getting actual full physiological monitoring may be more difficult, but I’m sure we’ll reach a point where that kind of information being transmitted to a doctor’s office will be just like the telemetry we do on patients when they’re in the hospital,” said Dr. Timothy Gardner, chef of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania.
Initially, Biotronik is being limited to 100 patients at 10 medical centers, so doctors can continue to evaluate the system before wider sales begin.
