Over the last few decades, heart failure and heart related disorders have been the major health concern across the globe. Heart failure is mainly caused due to overwork of the heart to meet the oxygen demand, when there is any blockage in the coronary arteries that supply oxygenated blood to the heart. There are many artificial electronic devices like permanent pacemakers, implantable cadioverter defibrillator (ICD), etc.,which are available to reduce the work load of the heart and helps the heart to pump blood efficiently.
These implantation procedures help to maintain the aortic pressure low and increase the ventricular performance to control the fluid volume. The use of these implants are not only expensive and difficult to handle but they also have a fixed pressure and volume at a given point, irrespective of the environmental pressure and other added stress factors. Thus there is a need for an alternate implant that could help to give the real-time monitoring of the dynamics of the heart and this problem could be rectified using Implantable Hemodynamic Monitor, which could constantly monitor every change in the heart like blood pressure, blood flow , oxygen content, heart rate, and other activities.
The Implantable hemodynamic monitor is basically made of a monitor, pressure sensor leads with passive fixation, external pressure reference, data retrieval elements, and data viewing components.
A titanium diaphragm and polyurethane window are used in the pressure sensor lead which is fixed to the region where blood flow is high, especially in the right ventricles. This reduces the development of fibrous growth. To prevent the clamping of the lead body between the clavicle and the first rib, the leads needs to be placed in the subclavian vein.
EPR( External Pressure Refrence) records the barometric pressure every minute and accordingly calibrates the Implantable Hemodynamic monitors to get adjusted to the pressure variation. The implantable hemodynamic monitors are usually implanted under the pectoral pocket near the chest by giving local anesthesia. Once it is implanted, these implantable hemodynamic monitors are programmed in such a way that it meets the requirement of the patient. These monitors can also be made as a part of the Implantable cadioverter defibrillator which is commonly used in patients with acute heart failure to monitor the blood flow related parameters.
The implantable hemodynamic monitor has certain disadvantages like the need for a transeptal catheterization and also patients with this device should avoid electronic device interferences.
Researchers have shown that the number of hospitalization post implantation due to heart failure have come down by 30%. Though there are data to show its usefulness to monitor the dynamic flow of blood and related parameters, it requires more proof to show the efficiency of this device and to use it for clinical purposes.