BIOTRONIK, a leading manufacturer of cardio- and endovascular medical technology, announced that patients in European countries will now be able to benefit from its new subcutaneous, insertable cardiac remote monitor, BioMonitor 2, launched in Europe.

BioMonitor 2 is designed for highly accurate and reliable continuous detection of cardiac electrical events in patients with atrial fibrillation or syncope. It is available in two versions, one specialized for the detection of atrial fibrillation and the other designed to help diagnose the cause of unexplained syncope.

“This new heart monitor provides data that is quite high quality,” commented Dr. Carlo Pappone, director of Arrhythmias and Cardiac Pacing at Policlinico San Donato, Milanese, Italy.

“The P-wave and R-wave are easily detectable and the rhythm discrimination is highly specific. Along with the daily transmissions of patient, we can get a clear and timely view of clinically relevant events even earlier than before and start appropriate treatment.”

A recent Australian pilot study showed a greater than 90 per cent transmission reliability for daily BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring transmissions, exceeding industry standards. In addition, the device has a capacity of over 60 minutes of ECG recording time and can transmit up to six SECGs (subcutaneous ECG) daily via Home Monitoring.

In addition to its diagnostic benefits, one of the new cardiac monitor’s first implanters highlights how simple it is to insert. “BioMonitor 2 can take less than two minutes to insert, and it is a very easy procedure,” explained Dr. Christian Butter, head physician of the cardiology department, Heart Center Brandenburg, Bernau/Berlin, Germany.

“That is because the design makes the monitor easily adaptable to the patient’s anatomy, and the scar left behind is very small.”

BioMonitor 2 also has BIOTRONIK ProMRI technology and is approved for full-body scans at both 1.5 and 3.0 T. Its average battery life is four years, exceeding the industry standard of three years.

BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring transmits patient heart data automatically on a daily basis, thereby rapidly detecting deterioration in a patient’s clinical status. Early detection of clinically relevant events, in particular paroxysmal and asymptomatic arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation, enables the physician to adapt patient therapy at a very early stage.

BIOTRONIK ProMRI technology enables patients with a pacemaker, implantable defibrillator, cardiac monitor, or cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) or pacemaker (CRT-P) to undergo an MRI scan. BIOTRONIK has the broadest portfolio of cardiac devices approved for use in the MR environment on the market.