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Medicine and technological advances often go hand in hand, and over time devices have been seen that have helped the industry considerably, such as the use of 3D printers in hospitals for safer surgeries or a smart patch. ligent to heal chronic wounds. On this occasion, the Germans Trias Hospital in Barcelona has implemented the first sensor to remotely track patients’ hearts with heart failure in Spain.
It is a disease that affects millions of people in Europe and that it arises when the heart does not pump enough blood to the rest of the body. This causes the onset of symptoms such as shortness of breath, dry cough, sweating in the ankles and legs, weight gain, fatigue and irregular heart rhythms, which lead to a loss of quality of life for patients.
The sensor that the Barcelona hospital has implanted, called V-LAP, allows cardiologists to be able to monitor patients’ daily and remote heart activity with heart failure and, through telemetry information, detect in real time the changes in blood pressure in the left atrium of the heart that indicate a worsening of the function of the same.
Accurate readings
The V-LAP sensor, which is small in size, provides access to heart data 24 hours a day. “It is placed inside the heart at the level of the left atrium and allows the pressure that is inside the heart cavity to be transmitted at this time so that doctors can monitor intracardiac pressures,” says Omar Abdul-Jawad, a doctor at the Germans Trias Hospital which led the first intervention to implant the sensor in Spain, at OMICRONO.
The sensor is small in size and placed in the heart.
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The sensory implant provides necessary pressure readings and allows patients to monitor the pressure of the left atrium of the heart daily and remotely at the touch of a button. “This device is simple to implant and is a diagnostic and near-therapeutic weapon that helps doctors a lot in properly adjusting the medication of patients with heart failure,” notes Omar Abdul-Jawad.
V-LAP is a digital microcomputer that rests on the interatrial septum of the heart and has no battery, but energy is driven into the implant through induction technology. To apply this current, the patient to be measured for pressure must be placed “a light belt that is responsible for emitting a current of energy and capturing what the sensor bounces.”
When a patient performs a pressure measurement, the data obtained is automatically transmitted to a cloud-based system. In addition to the belt, people who have the sensor implanted also have a kind of device that connects to electricity and has a small antenna, which is responsible for sending the measurement data by wifi or 4G.
A moment of the operation carried out by Dr. Omar Abdul-Jawad.
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Measurements barely take five minutes and they can be performed at any time and place thanks to the belt. In addition, the sensor’s central wireless technology communicates up to 30 inches inside the body and all data is captured and stored, so doctors get the value of a patient’s pressure every day.
“If this value is high and worrying, an alarm goes off alerting the doctor to contact the patient and see if there has been any kind of problem to fix it, even without the need for them to go to the hospital. In addition, the sensor is very sensitive so before the patient notices the symptoms, from the hospital they can already see the increase in pressure, “explains Omar Abdul-Jawad.
Better treatment
With the data obtained, and thanks to access to real-time clinical data, healthcare professionals can provide better pharmacological treatment, Stabilize patients in advance and reduce possible hospital readmissions.
Another moment of the operation to implant the sensor.
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“There is a software and a program that allows the hospital access and view all patient data with heart failure carrying this sensor. Diagnostic algorithms can even be performed, “concludes the doctor. Remote monitoring and medical care represents a major breakthrough for patients with heart failure, who are at higher risk with Covid-19.
The Hemodynamics team of Germans Trias, led by doctor Omar Abdul-Jawad, performed the first operation in Spain to implant the sensor on July 21, and two more patients are scheduled. An operation that enters within an international study in which there are also two other country centers involved: the Hospital Clínic Universitario de Valladolid (HCOV) and the Hospital Porta de Ferro de Madrid.