Wireless Implant Allows Doctors To Monitor UCSF Heart Patient At Home

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- More than 5 million people had heart failure last year. A new implant lets doctors get medical data wirelessly, straight from their patient's hearts.

Norman Marigney has been hospitalized four times this year alone for heart failure. "My heart is damaged," he said.

Marigney has congestive heart failure. For now he is stable, but he will require constant monitoring.

Now with a tiny device implanted into his heart, doctors can watch his heart health 24/7 from miles away. Marigney is the first patient on the West Coast to receive the implant.

"The whole idea about remote monitoring is actually detecting changes in their heart function and in their pressures way before the symptoms develop," said Dr. Liviu Klein of the UCSF Heart and Vascular Center.

When Marigney goes home, he will use a pillow with a built-in receiver that relays the tiny signals from his heart to a special transmitter that connects to a secure website. Medical staff will know when something is going wrong, often before Marigney does.

"The implant procedure takes about 45 minutes or so. Typically the patient spends one or two nights in the hospital and then they go home," Klein said.

Marigney is scheduled to go home on Tuesday.

The next step is to program the software to send the data directly to the patient's smartphone. That way, they will have the information at almost the same time as the doctor does.