Jack Mason, IBM Strategic Communications, HealthNex Producer
I've been planning to do a post on my personal experience with telemedicine, and John Sharp at eHealth provided the push when I saw his post on Telehealth for Congestive Heart Failure.
Just about a year ago, my dad, who is 73 and has had congestive heart failure for quite some time, experienced a life-threatening episode of ventricular tachycardia....a weakened heart set racing out of control trying to catch up with his body's demands.
When he was taken to the hospital, my family and I thought he was a surefire candidate for a new bypass to repair his failed grafts done more than a decade ago. But the doctors concluded that given Dad's history, age and overall health, the surgery was too risky.
They did say my dad's best prognosis was with a pacemaker/defibrillator implant and a new drug treatment, Coreg.
The device, from a company called Biotronik, was intended to not only avert another dangerous episode of tachycardia, but also to shock my dad's heart back into line if one occured.
But what was especially interesting, in terms of healthcare technology and innovation, is that the device was essentially a remote data-monitoring tool. It would send cardiac data to a wireless base station that would eventually route the information to my dad's cardiologist by phone and satellite for securing viewing on the internet.
The company has a flash movie of how the system works on its Web site.
The idea is that the doctors would immediately know if my dad's defib had kicked off. The system watching and processing the data might also be able to detect a problem before it became serious, and prompt the docs to call or email my Dad and advise him what to do.
According to the Biotronik's web site, the company also makes a heart failure therapy system, a cardioverter/defibrillator (ICD) device with electrodes attached to three chambers in the heart. The system is supposed to do more than just pace or shock an irregular heart, but actually "ease the strain on the weakened heart muscle and optimize the intrinsic heart function," according to the site. I'm not sure if my father has this full therapeutic setup, but I've asked him to check with his doctor.
In any case, he is doing much better a year later, and the whole episode was such an interesting personal experience of what digital healthcare is becoming, that I mentioned it a few months ago to my pal Noah, who was then working at Gizmodo. He told me the blog had actually done a post on a Biotronik device. Turns out Medgadget has one as well.
And in going back to check on the posts today, I noticed that the original tip for the item came from Dr. Enoch Choi at Medmusings, who is also on Medgadget's editorial board.
All of this is further proof, I think that while the healthcare ecosystem is gradually becoming a rich, interactive community of data and exchange, this circle of healthcare IT blogging is evolving in parallel into the collective antennae for the global transformation of care.
I too am a fan, especially the wireless connectivity feature. Here's a post from a few weeks ago: http://medicalconnectivity.com/categories/patientSafety/2006/01/13.html
Posted by: Tim Gee | January 25, 2006 at 12:26 PM