A GRAN has become the first person in Britain to get a revolutionary in-heart computer.
The wireless implant beams data back to medics, telling them how Margaret McDermott’s ticker is coping.
The monitor, on trial in the UK, sends doctors real-time readings — allowing them to intervene before patients’ health deteriorates further.
The makers claim if it is rolled out across Britain it could drastically reduce hospital admissions and save the NHS up to £75million a year.
Margaret, 75, of Birmingham, had the gadget implanted in her heart’s left atrium during an hour-long operation and says it has already changed her life for the better.
She said: “It’s wonderful. Every day I wake up and I can breathe, I’m not out of breath.
“Before I was really struggling and relying on inhalers. It really feels like a miracle.”
KEEP THOUSANDS OUT OF HOSPITAL
Margaret is among ten patients taking part in trials.
Around a million people in Britain suffer heart failure — a condition in which the heart becomes too weak to pump blood around the body properly. It is the leading cause of hospital admissions for over-65s.
The device, the world’s first in-heart microcomputer, is made by Israeli firm Vectorious. It claims if the device was rolled out nationally here it could help keep thousands out of hospital.
Every day I wake up and I can breathe, I’m not out of breath. Before I was really struggling and relying on inhalers.
Margaret McDermott
Currently, NHS treatment for heart patients only changes once they suffer from worsening symptoms.
The trial of the device was announced ahead of the European Society of Cardiology conference in Paris.
Experts said the “battery-less” technology should last a lifetime. It is said to be the most accurate form of home heart monitoring yet available.
Each day patients place a strap across their chest for five minutes. It sends the results to a hospital team, flagging any problems to medics so they can intervene much earlier.
Currently, if doctors want to check changes to heart signs patients must first be admitted to hospital.
Researcher Professor Francisco Leyva, consultant cardiologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, said: “This new device has the potential to combat three of the biggest problems relating to heart failure disease — low patient quality of life, repeat admissions to hospital and the astronomical cost to the system of readmissions.”
Nearly half of heart failure patients end up back in hospital after initial treatment.
Oren Goldshtien, head of Vectorious, said: “We believe the monitor is a game changer in helping the million people living with heart failure in the UK take control and manage their disease.”
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