According to the company, the Merlin@home transmitter’s wireless technology gives patients the additional comfort of having devices automatically checked. Since the transmitter initiates the scheduled follow-up and uses RF wireless telemetry to download data from the device, the entire follow-up procedure is conducted without any direct patient involvement.
The transmitter supports the St Jude Medical Current RF and Promote RF family of devices and works in conjunction with the St Jude Medical data management system, Merlin.net Patient Care Network (PCN), to provide complete remote care service for patients and their physicians.
The Merlin@home transmitter is said to be transportable and can be set-up wherever a standard phone line is available, typically by the bedside for data transmission while the patient sleeps.
The Merlin@home transmitter also monitors cardiac devices outside of regularly scheduled follow-ups. The system can perform daily checks to monitor for alerts about device performance or about patient heart rhythms that may have been detected by the implanted device.
Eric Fain, president of St Jude Medical’s cardiac rhythm management division, said: “By directly alerting physicians, the Merlin@home transmitter and Merlin.net PCN can help reduce risks associated with cardiac episodes that physicians would want to know about right away.”