Boston Scientific releases Latitude data

Boston Scientific has released data of the first 15,000 patients monitored wirelessly on its Latitude Patient Management System.

The released data represents the largest experience with wireless remote monitoring of implantable cardiac devices.

The company announced that out of the 106, 000 monitoring months, Latitude detected 948 patients with at least one event of sustained atrial arrhythmia for more than 24 hours.

The patient management system also detected 1,516 patients who received at least one event of shock therapy for potentially life threatening arrhythmias.

Mark ASilver, director of the Heart Failure Institute highlighted the benefits of using the system: “Remote monitoring between regularly scheduled follow-ups may enable clinicians to observe these events sooner in their device patients, which gives physicians the option to intervene earlier.”

However he went on to confirm that monitoring a patient’s weight and blood pressure was equally important as they are key indicators of potential heart failure.

Earlier this year, Professor Hugh Markus at St George’s, University of London called for an urgent reorganisation of the UK’s stroke services in order to stop the country from having the worst outcomes from the condition in western Europe.