May 23, 2022 — Englewood Health is offering patients access to a new insertable cardiac monitor (ICM) device that offers personalized programming to fit a patient’s lifestyle and their physician’s workflow.
LINQ II™ is a small, wireless ICM for patients with abnormal heart rhythms who experience infrequent symptoms, including dizziness, palpitations, syncope (fainting) and/or chest pain, thereby requiring long-term monitoring or ongoing management.
“Proper monitoring of patients with abnormal heart rhythms provides crucial data that informs treatment decisions,” said Grant Simons, MD, chief of heart rhythm services at Englewood Health. “This new device is really something special, and a great advancement in the monitoring of these individuals.”
The device is one-third the size of a AAA battery and is placed just beneath the skin through a small incision (less than one cm) in the upper left side of the chest, using a minimally invasive procedure.
The LINQ II features remote programming through the Medtronic CareLink™ Network, which is used to remotely manage and monitor a patient’s device. Secure, two-way communication between CareLink and the LINQ II can help reduce both patient office visits and physician review of repetitive data.
Deep learning algorithms applied to the device are reported to save physicians approximately 319 hours of review of false alerts for every 200 LINQ II patients. The algorithm does this by addressing the two most common sources of ICM false alerts: atrial fibrillation and pause.
The device also offers patients access to a Bluetooth-enabled mobile app that allows them to monitor their device and share insights with their physicians directly from their phone, at any time of day.