Jersey City Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, the leading academic health system in New Jersey, now offers a small implantable pressure-sending device that measures and tracks a patient's blood flow pressure.
It is designed to manage patients diagnosed with congestive heart failure.
The advanced CardioMEMS™ HF System, implanted in the pulmonary artery, can indicate that a patient's heart failure condition is worsening.
Once implanted, the patient receives daily sensor readings from home. Those readings are transmitted wirelessly to a secure patient care network that monitors any changes.
The daily readings are transmitted to a patient's heart failure care team to monitor any changes and adjust treatment and medications as needed.
"Early detection is key when it comes to heart failure. If diagnosed early and treated effectively, the disease can be well managed," said Sreeram Grandhi, MD, a cardiologist at JCMC and a member of RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group.
"In fact, clinical evidence has proven that monitoring the slightest of changes and adjusting treatment plans, when necessary, in heart failure patients can help greatly in reducing hospitalizations related to heart failure," Grandhi said.
Patients who may benefit from the CardioMems Heart Failure System are those who have been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and have had at least one heart failure-related hospitalization in the past year, among other criteria.
As an award-winning cardiovascular and thoracic cardiac network serving New Jersey residents, RWJBarnabas Health has the state's largest combined adult and pediatric cardiac surgery program.
Through a partnership with Rutgers University, one of the nation's leading public universities, JCMC offers comprehensive cardiovascular and thoracic care options.
These include coronary artery bypass grafting, mitral valve repair and replacement, non-invasive cardiac imaging, laboratory tests, and advanced procedures like Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, also known as TAVR, without traveling out of town or to another city.