On 27 April, Biotronik announced the European market release of the new Evia HF-T pacemaker series.
According to a company release, Evia HF-T is the first cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT-P) device approved for use in an MRI environment. In addition, the Evia HF-T series offers remote patient management with Biotronik Home Monitoring, as well as detailed data available via Biotronik’s Heart Failure Monitor. This information allows for faster therapy intervention to relieve even asymptomatic symptoms earlier and may even help to decrease hospitalisation.
“Until now, patients with a CRT pacemaker were denied MR scanning,” said Valeria Calvi, director of Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology at University of Catania, Ferrarotto Hospital, Italy. “MR images give essential diagnostic information that impacts important therapeutic decisions and offer clear insights into the progression of the disease. Now that Biotronik enables heart failure patients with the Evia HF-T device to undergo MR scans, it is reassuring that patients can benefit from these optimal diagnostic procedures when they should need them during their lifetime.”
The usage of MR scans increases with age, due to an increased prevalence of comorbidities like stroke, brain tumors and arthritis-conditions that might require MR scans for exact diagnosis. The prevalence of heart failure also increases with age. The average age of patients with heart failure is 75 years; therefore it is vital that heart failure patients have access to MR scanning.
Sites involved in the first implantations of the Evia HF-T pacemaker with ProMRI
Theodoros Ballidis, Community Hospital Bonn, Germany
Valeria Calvi, Ferrarotto Hospital, Italy
Bernd Eber, Hospital Wels-Grieskirchen GmbH, Austria
Gerhard Hindricks, Heartcenter Leipzig, Germany
Istvan Szendey, Hospital Maria Hilf Mönchengladbach, Germany
