ECOST, a prospective multicentre clinical trial designed to examine the safety and effectiveness of remote monitoring of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) patients with Biotronik Home Monitoring, demonstrates for the first time that daily remote monitoring with Biotronik Home Monitoring reduces inappropriate shocks and improves battery longevity in long-term follow-up (27 months) of patients with an ICD. The results were presented by Salem Kacet, principal investigator of the trial, at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2011 on 29 August 2011 in Paris, France.
Researchers analysed 433 patients who were randomly assigned to Home Monitoring follow-up or standard in-office care. Patients in the Home Monitoring group were scheduled for in-office follow-ups at yearly intervals. In between, device- or patient-related event notifications by the Home Monitoring system could trigger additional in-office follow-ups. Patients in the control group received standard of care with in-office follow-ups every six months.
The ECOST trial results confirm that Biotronik Home Monitoring is at least as safe as standard in-office follow-up, with no significant difference in the number of patients with one or more major adverse events, which is consistent with previous findings from the landmark TRUST trial and the COMPAS trial.
ECOST is the first trial to show a 52% reduction of the number of patients with inappropriate shocks and a 72% reduction in the risk of hospitalisations related to inappropriate shocks, underlining the effectiveness of Biotronik Home Monitoring in ICD recipients. In addition, ECOST shows a 76% reduction in the number of charged shocks with a significant impact on ICD battery longevity.
“Most importantly, ECOST is the first trial to demonstrate that Home Monitoring reduces charged and delivered shocks in general, and inappropriate shocks in particular, which has positive effects on battery longevity. This clearly underlines the value of this advanced technology for the surveillance of arrhythmias and early adaptation of ICD therapy,” commented Kacet. “It is of particular note that daily Home Monitoring in the long-term actually saves ICD battery life, as some remote monitoring technologies can substantially drain the device battery. However, Biotronik Home Monitoring enables physicians to adapt the therapy earlier to their patients’ needs. Patients benefit from the reduced risk of inappropriate shocks, which can be a very unpleasant experience, and need ICD replacement less frequently.”
“Remote monitoring might soon become a new gold standard of care for ICD recipients’ follow-ups,” Kacet concluded.
About Biotronik Home Monitoring
Biotronik Home Monitoring is the first and only remote patient management system with FDA and CE approvals for safe reduction of in-office follow-ups and for early detection of clinically relevant events, leading to earlier intervention, based on results of the TRUST landmark trial.
The system is unique because it allows continuous automatic wireless remote monitoring of patient status and device status with daily updates, all independent from any patient interaction. Biotronik Home Monitoring has pioneered advances in remote patient management since its first clinical application in 2000. Today, the system is used in more than 3,800 clinics and 55 countries worldwide.
