China's First Pacemaker Wireless Monitoring Services Center

CHINA—The "TICH-BIOTRONIC Pacemaker Wireless Monitoring Services Centre" was cofounded on October 18, 2011 at Teda by TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital (TICH), Tianjin, China, and BIOTRONIK (Beijing) SE & Co. KG, Germany. This center is the first institution in China that engages the professional medical staff for the online monitoring of the conditions of patients with implanted pacemaker, implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), and three-chamber pacemaker CRT defibrillator (CRTD) and the management of the data.
TICH, the Cardiovascular Clinical College of Tianjin Medical University and the public hospital invested by the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Zone, is a major modern AAA specialized cardiovascular hospital integrating medical treatment, teaching, research, and healthcare. In June 2009, TICH obtained the accreditation of the American International Hospital Standard. With the complete system for the clinical cardiovascular disease treatment, the overall technology level of TICH is now at the domestic advanced level. In 2005, TICH succeeded in performing the first CRTD implantation in Tianjin for an 80-year-old patient with malignant ventricular arrhythmia combined with severe heart failure. In 2008, the volume of ICD implants in TICH ranked first place among the domestic hospitals.
At present, there are approximately 40,000 to 50,000 heart disease patients in China in need of the pacing device implantation, of which more than 3,000 people need the implantation of CRTD and ICD. In the past, after the implantation of cardiac pacemakers, CRTD, or ICD, patients had to go to the hospital for follow-up examination every 3 to 6 months. However, when problems arise with the patient's condition or the implanted device, especially those without clinical symptoms such as electrode dislocation or fracture, which the doctors and patients may be unaware of, it will put the patients in serious risk if the problems cannot be solved. Compared with the average ones, the pacemakers produced by BIOTRONIK are added with the functions of data collection and transmission and apply Home Monitoring, the technology of postoperative follow-up management. Not only will the patients have the pacemaker implantation, they will also be provided with a terminal similar to the cell phone. This terminal will send the data collected by the implanted pacemaker about the heart and the operation of this device to the wireless monitoring service center in TICH through GSM network, so that the professional medical staff can monitor the data and analyze the operating situation of the implanted pacing devices. Once there is any problem, the doctors at the hospital where the pacemaker is implanted can get noticed, and they will follow up on the situation of the patient to minimize the possibility of danger and to fully guarantee the patient's safety.
With the foundation of the TICH-BIOTRONIC Pacemaker Wireless Monitoring Services Centre, the professional medical staff can now monitor the data of the pacing devices; therefore, patients do not need to pay frequent visits to hospitals, which should be a great relief for the non-local patients, while the doctors will spend less time on the house calls of the patients. Furthermore, the medical resources can be more efficiently allocated to the more needy patients. In addition, the radiation of the monitoring terminal is the same as that of the cell phones, entirely within the safety limits. Thus, the patients do not need to worry about its affect on their health. Wherever the patients go in the world, the center can always monitor the data sent by the pacing device as long as there is a cell phone network. All patients need to do is keep the terminal on.