University Hospital Galway (UHG) has completed a clinical trial which reduces the hospitalisation rate for patients living with heart failure.
The trial which allows patients to be treated for heart failure from home has the potential to be a game changer in the treatment and monitoring of the condition.
Heart failure is a significant public health priority with patients requiring frequent hospitalisations.
This new sensor allows cardiology teams to monitor patients remotely, avoiding hospitalisation.
An internal audit in UHG of patients who received the sensor noted a 97% decrease in hospitalisation among this group.
The Cordella Pulmonary Artery Pressure Sensor detects changes in the health of patients with heart failure and securely transmits the information to the care team for review.
If a change is detected, the team can then make changes to medications or other clinical interventions to prevent a heart failure flare-up requiring urgent hospitalisation.
Professor Faisal Sharif, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at UHG, said that over the last few years, UHG has conducted and completed three clinical trials with this unique device.
Thirty-seven patients with advanced heart failure from the west and north-west of the county have had the Cordella Sensor implanted.
“The trial was open for patients with heart failure, who met a certain criteria and who were being treated at the Heart Failure Clinic in UHG,” explained Prof Faisal Sharif.
“We conducted an internal audit of all the patients in UHG who had the sensor placement, and were pleasantly surprised to see that hospitalisations for heart failure had decreased by 97%.
“This technology will improve patients’ quality of life and keep them healthy in their own homes, and it has the potential to be a game changer in the treatment and monitoring of heart failure.”
The sensor is placed in the right pulmonary artery of the heart to monitor pulmonary artery pressures within the heart muscle.
Insertion of the sensor is a simple procedure that only requires an overnight stay in hospital.
Ms Chris Kane, General Manager, Galway University Hospitals, said: “The success of this clinical trial can be measured in the improvements in the patients’ quality of life, the dramatic reduction in the need for hospitalisation and the enhanced role that the patients are able to play in their own care.
“This is an excellent example of providing quality care in a patient’s own home environment to a level as close as possible to a hospital visit.”
The clinical trial is a collaboration between University Hospital Galway, University of Galway, Science Foundation Ireland and Endotronix, USA.
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