Remote monitoring of implantable pacemakers: in-office setup significantly improves successful data transmission.

Background: Remote wireless follow-up of implanted pacemakers (PM) has become an attractive method of follow-up. Although wireless PM follow-up has several advantages compared with transtelephonic and office-based follow-up, its utility depends on successful transmission.

Hypothesis: Initial in-office setup of wireless PM will improve transmission rate as compared with home setup.

Methods: A total of 202 consecutive patients from 2 medical centers were included in this retrospective study. Patients in the home setup group (N = 101) had traditional home setup of wireless PM, whereas patients in the in-office group (N = 101) had setup of PMs by allied health professionals during the postoperative office visit. Successful transmission was defined as successful initial wireless transmission of PM data by 2 months postimplant.

Results: Of the 101 patients in the home setup group, 22 (22%) patients had successful transmission. Of the 101 patients in the in-office group, 92 (91%) patients had successful transmission (P < 0.0001). Logistic regression analysis showed that that the in-office group was independently associated with successful transmission (odds ratio: 114.5; 95% confidence interval: 32.1-408.4; P < 0.0001).

Conclusions: In patients implanted with PM capable of remote wireless data transmission, initial home setup of the wireless monitoring device was frequently unsuccessful. In-office PM setup was associated with a significantly higher rate of successful transmission.