Ketan Gala, MD, FACC, clinical cardiologist, Medical Director of the Advanced Heart Failure Program at Cooper, and member provider of Cooper and Inspira Cardiac Care, and Adam Levine, DO, FACC, FSCAI, interventional cardiologist and medical staff member of both Cooper University Health Care and Inspira Health, implanted the hospital’s first two CardioMEMS ™ HF Systems by Abbot, launching a new and innovative monitoring tool for patients with heart failure.
CardioMEMS™ HF System is a tiny pressure-sensing device that monitors changes in pulmonary artery (PA) pressure and remotely sends the data to the health care team. PA is an early indicator of the onset of worsening heart failure. By receiving the PA data remotely, the health care team in turn can address the patient’s symptoms, such as adjusting medications without requiring an in-person appointment.
Patients usually do not know their heart failure is getting worse until they experience physiological effects such as swelling of the legs and feet, and difficulty breathing, which often leads to hospitalization. By monitoring PA, the care team can identify when a patient is starting to get worse, before symptoms physically appear.
“Heart failure is a chronic, progressive condition. What this device does is to allow patients with heart failure to be proactive, giving them a sense of control,” Dr. Gala says. “They have the confidence to live their lives knowing we are monitoring their health remotely.”
In the U.S., heart failure is estimated to affect 6.9 million adults and is expected to increase by 24% to nearly 8.5 million by 2030 according to researchers. Overall, heart failure is associated with a four-fold increased risk of death and a six to nine times increased risk of sudden cardiac death.
Congratulations to the Cooper and Inspira Cardiac Care team on this achievement in advancing patient care.
