Tiny sensor makes big difference for heart failure patients

CALGARY – Advanced technology being used at Foothills Medical Centre aims to help heart failure patients stay out of hospital and enjoy a better quality of life.

CardioMEMS is a tiny wireless sensor — just millimetres in size — that’s implanted into the pulmonary artery of a heart failure patient during a 30-minute procedure. The device measures pressure in the lungs, a key marker of a patient’s heart health. Physicians receive daily reports on a patient’s lung pressure, which allows them to detect early signs of deteriorating cardiac health. Clinical trials in the U.S. have shown the sensor has reduced by half hospitalizations due to heart failure.

Last September, Dr. Brian Clarke, a heart failure specialist at the Foothills Medical Centre, became the first physician in Western Canada to implant the CardioMEMS device in a patient with heart failure. Since then, he has implanted the sensor in five other patients as part of a clinical pilot program and research study with the University of Calgary that will involve a total of 15 patients to the study’s completion in early 2020.

“Managing heart failure can be complex because treatment can be highly individualized,” says Dr. Clarke, also a member of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta. “It’s a very expensive condition to treat with hospitalizations costing up to $1,800 per day and the average patient staying in care for approximately 10 days.

“CardioMEMS allows us to remotely monitor more specific parameters of a patient’s heart failure status,” he says. “It’s an entirely different approach to treatment because it’s proactive – we can implement interventions before patients get sick and end up in hospital, and we can potentially reduce the need for frequent clinic visits, which offers significant benefits for patients and for the healthcare system.”

Calgary teacher Michelle Kotelko, who was born with a rare heart defect, says her quality of life had deteriorated in recent years.

“I couldn’t even walk from my classroom to the car after a day’s work, or around the block with my family without being short of breath and in physical agony,” says Kotelko, 34.

She was referred to Dr. Clarke, who diagnosed her with heart failure – a chronic condition in which the heart doesn’t pump blood efficiently. It can have many causes and results in a stiff heart or weakened heart muscle. The condition can affect people of all ages, leading to fluid retention, shortness of breath, bloating, swelling and fatigue.

When Dr. Clarke approached Kotelko about receiving a CardioMEMS sensor, she was very excited about the promise of finding relief from the many issues caused by her heart failure.

“It was a huge break in the clouds,” says Kotelko, the first patient in the ongoing clinical program and research study. “It has put an end to the litany of symptoms I’ve experienced and the perpetual catch-up game we were playing, and it has made my heart failure far more manageable.”

Within a week of undergoing the procedure, Kotelko’s pain went away thanks to modifications in her treatment plan made possible from data provided by the device. Each morning she lies on a special “pillow” for 10 to 15 seconds while the device in her heart sends data to her physicians at Foothills Medical Centre’s Heart Failure Clinic.

Dr. Clarke says CardioMEMS could become a game-changer in heart failure management.

“I have been excited about this technology since it was in its conceptual phase. As a heart failure doctor, you often wish you had this information readily available in your patients who struggle with persistent symptoms despite what you believe is the best treatment for them,” says Dr. Clarke.

Alberta Health Services is the provincial health authority responsible for planning and delivering health supports and services for more than four million adults and children living in Alberta. Its mission is to provide a patient-focused, quality health system that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans.