Cleveland Clinic's cutting-edge system saves patients’ lives in the comfort

From the UAE to Saudi Arabia and as far afield as Croatia, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s cutting-edge remote heart monitoring programme is helping to save patients’ lives in the comfort of their own homes.

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, part of Mubadala’s network of healthcare providers and the region’s leading heart care centre, launched the UAE’s first remote heart monitoring programme in August, 2015. Run by the hospital’s Heart and Vascular Institute, the programme has grown to include 186 patients, all of whom are monitored via their implantable cardiac devices, such as pacemakers and defibrillators.

Real-time heart monitoring is a relatively new concept in the GCC, but a report by Swedish market research firm Berg Insight has forecast that 19 million people worldwide will be using remote patient monitoring by 2018, with the GCC earmarked as one of the biggest regions for growth.

The benefits of remote heart monitoring are numerous, and include lowering mortality and morbidity, minimising check-ups and hospitalisations for patients, boosting patient outcomes, and improving patients’ lifestyles.

"Evidence of the programme’s value has been proven by a sharp decline in the hospitalisation of some patients with heart failure," said Dr. Khalid Al Muti, an Electrophysiologist in the Heart and Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

"We have some patients who were previously admitted to the hospital regularly, but have not been admitted since they started with the remote heart monitoring programme."

Patients are provided with a wireless console that, when plugged into an electrical outlet, automatically sends reports from the patient’s implanted device to a secure website, which is monitored by the remote team of technicians. When the device detects fluid accumulation or an arrhythmia, the cardiologist calls the patient and provides appropriate guidance, allowing them to intercept problems between check-ups.

The same technology is used for patients with syncope (sudden collapsing), palpitations or atrial fibrillation, who are monitored via an implantable loop recorder that has been inserted under the skin. The wireless console again transmits abnormal findings to the treating cardiologists, allowing them to remotely establish a diagnosis and monitor the patient’s response to therapy.

"These heart devices communicate with the patient’s doctor and technicians in our remote centre. If there is an abnormality and the patient receives a shock to their heart, for instance, we can react instantly and get them to hospital quickly for treatment," said Dr. Al Muti.

"The devices are for all ages. We have a young man who is 14 with a family history of heart disease, and he is receiving remote monitoring to make sure we detect any abnormalities. It was implanted after two of his immediate family members died from heart issues. At the other extreme, we have patients in their eighties who have a variety of implantable devices for remote heart monitoring, which send us reports continuously," he added.

Dr. Al Muti said that over the past year, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s heart monitoring programme had saved, or greatly affected, the lives of at least 10 patients when abnormalities were detected remotely by the team.

"Just recently, we had a 67-year-old patient whose heart was shocked by his defibrillator. He was lethargic and unresponsive. We contacted the family and arranged for an ambulance to bring him to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi," he said.

"He had a major infection and was admitted to our intensive care unit. If it wasn’t for remote monitoring, this patient would have received multiple painful shocks and probably died at home. Remote heart monitoring is a new concept to patients, but the device saved his life."

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi is marking World Heart Day with a month-long campaign, "Love Your Heart", which includes community health activities, online heart health education resources and a range of initiatives designed to raise awareness about the advanced cardiovascular services available at the hospital.