Home Monitoring in Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy

In spite of success in the management of heart failure, repetitive rehospitalisation and high mortality rate remain a serious problem. Recent studies, especially the COMPANION trial, have demonstrated that cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) reduces mortality and rehospitalisation in heart failure patients. There is also evidence that telemonitoring of heart failure patients potentially reduces both mortality and morbidity. Recently, a Home Monitoring (HM) function has been integrated into BIOTRONIK CRT-defibrillators and CRT-pacemakers with a view of harnessing the powerful combination of CRT with close remote monitoring of heart failure patients. It is possible now to transmit predefined parameters on a daily basis from the implanted devices to a web-based platform accessible by patients' physicians. Our study evaluates clinical usefulness of Biotronik HM function in CRT-defibrillators and CRT-pacemakers.