New pacemaker checks heart and calls for help if needed
A heart pacemaker that can send text messages to doctors via the mobile phone network has been fitted to a man in an experiment into monitoring cardiac patients at home.
Ray Lockyer, from Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, is thought to be the first in the country with an "intelligent" pacemaker able to detect and transmit heart irregularities.
A chip in it monitors heart beats and abnormalities are transmitted to a portable unit similar to a mobile phone carried on a belt by Mr Lockyer or kept by his bed as he sleeps. The unit retransmits the data as a text message to a service centre operated by the pacemaker's German manufacturer, Biotronik, which can alert Mr Lockyer's doctors at the nearby Morriston Hospital in Swansea.
Mr Lockyer, 55, a former scaffolder who has suffered two recent heart attacks, was fitted with the device three weeks ago. He said yesterday it has given him peace of mind. "I can sleep better at night knowing the device is working and there's a person at the other end of the phone. If anything does happen they're straight in touch and they can get you to hospital."
The device, called an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), is also able to kick-start the heart if it stops beating. It is hoped the ICD will give heart patients greater freedom because the system can transmit hundreds of miles. With information being sent directly to a doctor, the device should reduce the number of visits to clinics, lessening the workload of cardiologists.
The ICD is also able to detect phantom heart attacks, preventing needless trips to hospital. A spokesman for Biotronik said: "By the end of this month, 250 pacemakers and 20 ICDs will be fitted for trials." The trials start soon in Liverpool and Exeter.
The company hopes to beginning selling the device in early 2003 and is hoping that it will be made available on the NHS. The cost has yet to be decided.
David Cunningham, director of the National Pacemaker and ICD Database, said the invention would help to reassure heart patients. "It's going to improve the communication between the patients and their cardiologists," he said. "That will make the patient feel better. Reassurance is important for ICD patients because they worry that they have this device inside them that can shock their hearts."
In the UK, one in four men and one in six women die from coronary heart disease. About 274,000 people a year in the UK suffer a heart attack. About half are fatal.
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