Carol Kasyjanski, 61, has become the first person in the world to receive a wireless cardiac pacemaker which communicates, via the internet, with her cardiologist’s office to relay critical information. Each day the pacemaker communicates with remote servers to download all of its relevant information, which is analyzed by a monitoring system that can alert physicians if any abnormalities are present. The alerted doctor can then analyze the information firsthand and determine how to best intervene. The wireless pacemaker is made by St. Jude Medical, Inc and received approval from the U.S Food and Drug Administration in July, 2009. [via Daily Mail Online] Share your comments here.
Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
August 14th, 2009 at 5:31 am
Can I get more detailed info: cost,axillary equipment etc?
August 14th, 2009 at 8:04 am
My mother in law had a pacemaker where she would call our local hospital on the phone hold the phone near her chest and it would download her info to the hospital a few times she even used my cell phone when we were out fishing no wires attached so from what i read this article is misleading and incomplete this technology has been around for awhile it has just been upgraded with a cell phone in grandma’s chest with the ambulance on speed dial if i were you i would get a rate plan on the nation’s largest wireless network and get grandma a black berry too!
August 14th, 2009 at 9:09 am
A landmark and mile stone in excellence of technology for ailing humanity. Congratulations to all concerned.
August 14th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
If I understand this correctly, this wireless feature refers to the electrodes that would have previously been attached within the heart itself, and has nothing to do with the monitoring “over the telephone” or in the doctors office which all pacemakers were/are set to do now. I had 4 different pacemakers waiting for my heart transplant and a wireless device would’ve saved needing so many changes! This is a terrific step ahead!
At one point, I needed a specialist to use a lazar procedure to remove some old electrodes within my original heart so as not to cause problems when we had to change pacemakers to a “shocking” type. This problem would never come up for someone using a “wireless” pacemaker.
August 14th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
THIS SOUNDS GREAT, BUT I HAVE AN AICD (DEFEB AND PACEMAKER) THIS UNIT IS CHECKED WEEKLY BY PLACING A WAND OVER THE UNIT AND IT READS THE INFO AND SENT DIRECTLY TO THE DOCTOR. SO WHAT IS DIFFERENT BETWEEN ST JUDE AND THE ONE I HAVE.????
August 14th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
what if you are in wireless area?
August 14th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I live in an area where I can’t get wireless on my computer.SOMEONE EXPLAIN PLEASE
August 15th, 2009 at 11:21 am
I have some questions; What if the computer goes down or gets a virus? Can people who hack into computers also mess up how the pace maker works or how it transmits information? What if someone lives where they can only get dial up?
As I understand this, it wouldn’t be available to everyone but only to those who can afford and live in an area to have wireless internet?
Would it work with cable internet or DSL? I live in a part of the country where there is a lot of farm land and some areas do not have cable, DSL and many can not afford satellite.
I’m not saying this isn’t a good thing and possibly in the future everyone will have access to wireless internet. But for now I’m guessing some will have to continue using the pace makers they already have do to unavailability of everything needed to make this work for them.
August 16th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
I JUST HAVE A QUESTION CAUSE ITS REALLY BOTHERING ME…..I HAVE A SMALL ( ABOUT A marble size) lump under my arm…its not hard thought..very soft and it dos not hurt. i dont know what it is. and its really scaring me. i hope its not too serious and someone with a similar situation and help me figeur out what exactly this is and hope i can get rid of it.
August 16th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Make an appointment with your gyn or internist or whomever does your yearly breast checks and mammograms. Most lumps are just benign lumps or fibrocystic changes. For twenty years I have done this waltz and I used to panic, but after probably over 100 needle aspirations, and three surgical breast biopsies, now I just go in early to see my radiologist or breast surgeon. I finally did have some “almost ” unfriendliys show up, so I am on a six month program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Just get it checked out, that is the intelligent thing to do. Then it can stop bothering you. Remember, you have nothing to really be scared about yet. All the fear I wasted on those hundred plus needle aspirations and the three surgical biopsies. In Birmingham, I had the kindest surgeon and now I have a surgeon who is known for her specialty as a breast surgeon. All that wasted worry, when I knew I was doing the best I could do and so were my doctors. You just have to trust your Creator for the rest. Wellness and good health to you.