CardioMEMSTM Heart Failure Remote Monitoring
Shortness of breath, fatigue, swollen legs, and ankles, abdominal swelling. By the time these worsening heart failure symptoms take hold, patients often require hospitalization to recover.
Premier Health offers a new way to manage heart failure and reduce hospitalizations with the CardioMEMSTM HF System. Featuring a home monitoring unit and a permanently implanted device, CardioMEMS empowers patients toward better health.
The tiny, wireless device is implanted in your pulmonary artery (PA), the artery that moves blood from your heart to your lungs. Using home monitoring, it measures your PA pressure — an early indicator of fluid buildup — and electronically alerts our heart failure team to changes, before physical symptoms occur. This means we can intervene sooner with medication adjustments and lifestyle changes.
The minimally invasive outpatient procedure is available at Miami Valley Hospital, one of the first hospitals in the region to offer CardioMEMS.
A highly trained interventional cardiologist implants the device through a right heart catheterization procedure. Patients are seen at our heart failure clinic for evaluation and follow-up.
CardioMEMS Benefits
Clinical studies have shown that the CardioMEMS HF System:
- Reduces heart failure hospitalizations (readmissions by up to 40 percent)
- Lowers mortality
- Improves quality of life and functional capacity
The CardioMEMS HF System is not appropriate for all heart failure patients, specifically those with a history of recurrent pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis and patients with other exclusionary health histories.
CardioMEMS is particularly beneficial to patients with:
- Past heart failure hospitalizations
- Fluid volumes that are difficult to assess or manage
- Advanced limitation of physical activity due to fatigue and shortness of breath
Our heart failure clinic advanced practice registered nurse reviews referred patients for eligibility criteria.
Proactive Care For Heart Failure Patients
CardioMEMS can detect fluid retention in your lungs, caused by worsening heart failure, before it shows up as swelling. It’s especially helpful in patients with diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, who can become resistant to diuretic medications that help the body get rid of salt and water.
The CardioMEMS System:
- Alerts your care team when pulmonary artery pressure falls outside your physician-determined personalized range
- Accelerates intervention before fluid buildup causes swelling and shortness of breath
- Keeps your PA pressure under control, helping other medications work better
How CardioMEMS Works
The implanted CardioMEMS device is designed for lifetime use and does not need a battery or replacement parts. It combines with a home monitoring unit to measure your pulmonary artery pressure in just a few minutes each day.
The process is simple. You wirelessly transmit daily readings of your PA pressure with the monitoring unit from the comfort of your home. The readings transmit wirelessly to a secure website for our clinicians to access and review. Our team regularly reviews your data and contacts you as needed with medical therapy or lifestyle adjustments
The CardioMEMS procedure is covered by Medicare and most commercial medical insurers. Check with your insurance company to verify coverage.
Contact Us
Every moment of your life depends on a strong, healthy heart. The Premier Health cardiology and vascular services team is here to help you, each beat of the way, with prevention, diagnostic, treatment, and rehabilitation services in our hospitals, outpatient centers, and medical offices across Southwest Ohio.