BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — New technology pioneered at Boca Raton Regional Hospital is letting doctors control cardiac devices with an iPad. The announcement, sure to have implications worldwide, was just made by the hospital through this media release:
/Boca Raton Regional Hospital is the site for the development and study of a new software system that can revolutionize the wayphysicians communicate and reprogram cardiac devices remotely. The technology andstudy was conceived and developed by E. Martin Kloosterman, MD, Director of theElectrophysiology Laboratory and Chief of the Cardiology Department at Boca RatonRegional Hospital and the study abstract was published in the peer-reviewed Journal ofCardiovascular Electrophysiology. Dr. Kloosterman presented the study at the Venice2011 Arrhythmias international workshop to over 1,700 physicians in Italy on October 9,2011.
“This new development provides clinicians the ability to manage cardiac devices, such aspacemakers and defibrillators, remotely in real-time. The model, which was tested in theHospital’s emergency and operating rooms, allows the specialized physicians to havedirect access to the information in the patient’s device for adjustment and reprogramingin a moment’s notice no matter where they are and at any given time,” said Dr.Kloosterman.
Currently, cardiac device systems require the presence of the manufacturing company’srepresentative and the use of a programmer (dedicated computer that communicates withthe cardiac device to obtain data and perform testing and programming changes). Once atthe patient’s bedside the representative gathers the data and then communicates thefindings to the cardiologist and/or electrophysiologist to determine any program changes.A device check can take hours and not having clear, firsthand information by thephysician leads to unnecessary lag times.
“The project came to mind several years ago,” said Dr. Kloosterman. “First, the evolutionof the electronic medical records disseminated computer terminals with internetconnections in the medical work space allowing clinicians ready access to patient information. Then recently, the IPad (NASADQ:AAPL) emerged providing the ability to be online inseconds anytime, anywhere, allowing remote access to computer information. Thecombination of these two new innovations led me to the creation of the new technology:the remote-K-viewer. I designed and constructed a dedicated cart that hosts theprogrammer connected to a touch screen laptop with a wireless internet connection and aprinter. The remote-K-viewer cart is mobile and designed to be used by nurses or non-specialized physicians with minimal training.”
On the other end, this new application allows the specialized physician to remotely accessto a direct visualization of the programmer screen seeing the patient’s pacemaker orimplantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) information from an iPad on the road or on acomputer at the office or at home. A nurse at the bedside follows the remote physicianinstructions to operate the programmer via telephone communication and the laptopattached to the programmer. The entire process can be done in only a few minutes.
As part of his recent publication on this topic, Kloosterman reported the testing of hissystem during an airplane flight from San Francisco to Orlando. The system has alsoworked well with communication from out of the state and abroad namely South Americaand Europe.
“The remote-K-viewer concept is a new software/hardware communication system andthe first step into an inevitable direction, real time remote device management. We areexcited with the possibilities that this application has to offer in regards to thedevelopment of a new generation of programmers and service models in the near future.If we can control a robot in Mars we can certainly control remotely a cardiac device inBoca Raton,” said Kloosterman./
