Ed Krzyston's third heart attack six years ago left him "dead on the table." Today, thanks to the Internet and a tiny device implanted in his chest, he lives a relatively normal life.
The device, being tested at several US hospitals, constantly monitors his heart and measures, among other things, the blood pressure in various parts of his heart.
The crucial data are then transmitted over the Internet from Krzyston's home in Hammond, Indiana, to doctors at Rush Presbyterian-St Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, giving them instant access to his condition.
"You know the nice part of this? Some people don't want to sound like whiners, but graphs and numbers are universal," said the slender 53-year-old patient, whose last heart attack left him unconscious and near death for three days. He remains on a transplant list, waiting for a suitable donor heart.
At all times, Krzyston carries a black canvas bag containing a card, which he swipes across his chest like a credit card, to collect information from a 6cm by 9cm implant and a pager-like device to transmit the information.
"I send the information every Sunday night so the doctor has it first thing Monday morning," Krzyston said. If he feels unwell, however, he must transmit data immediately.
Instead of time-consuming 20-mile trips to the hospital, it takes him 10 minutes to transmit the data by telephone.
As part of his treatment, Krzyston swallows more than a dozen prescribed pills three times a day -- a regimen that is adjusted based on the data he sends along.
He is one of four patients in a trial, called the Chronicle Study, to evaluate the effectiveness of the implantable diagnostic monitor manufactured by Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc.
Krzyston's case is also part of a larger trend in medicine that aims to use the Internet to monitor the chronically ill while finding ways to reduce the nation's soaring health-care bill.
"Heart failure is one of the [nation's] fastest-growing conditions and the [US] population is aging. Soon, there won't be enough beds in the nation's hospitals to treat everyone," Alain Heroux, Krzyston's cardiologist said.
"That's going to require better monitoring. The technology is still evolving. We're now in the monitoring phase, and we're moving into the treatment phase," he said.
In four or five years, implantable devices that monitor and detect heart problems will be able to automatically correct those problems, within limits.
"This is not going to replace hands-on medicine, but when it's not possible for the physician to be there, this can be a tool. It's a more aggressive way to be with the patient and help avoid a crisis," Heroux said.
Medical device-maker Baxter International Inc is working with software giant Microsoft Corp, networking company Cisco Systems Inc and other technology firms to develop an Internet-connected home kidney dialysis machine to allow healthcare professionals to remotely monitor the treatment.
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