Remote monitoring of implantable cardioverter defibrillator patients: a safe, time-saving, and cost-effective means for follow-up.

Aims: The purpose of this prospective study was to investigate whether internet-based remote monitoring offers a safe, practical, and cost-effective alternative to the in-office follow-up visits of patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).

Methods And Results: Forty-one patients (62 +/- 10 years, range 41-76, 83% male) with previously implanted ICD were followed for 9 months. One-hundred and nineteen scheduled and 18 unscheduled data transmissions were performed.

Quality of life restored to normal in patients with atrial fibrillation after pulmonary vein ostial isolation.

Background: Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is effective in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. However, its impact on quality of life (QOL) is not completely understood.

Methods: Eighty-nine otherwise healthy patients (74 men; age, 53 +/- 11 years) were selected for PVI.