5G Cloud‐Enabled Telemedicine for Remote Management of Heart Failure Patients With Implantable Cardioverter‐Defibrillators: A Multicenter Open‐Label Randomized Controlled Trial

FIGURE 1. Comparative analysis of time distribution patterns for unscheduled patient visits in the In‐Clinic and 5G‐CTP groups. (A) Time from clinical event to intervention per patient in two arms (57 patients in In‐Clinic and 56 in 5G‐CTP) for unscheduled visits. (B) Programmed time per patient in the two groups for unscheduled visits. Red bars indicate the In‐Clinic group; green bars indicate the 5G‐CTP group.

FIGURE 2. Proportion of medical resource utilization. Annual rates by randomization group of scheduled visits (protocol‐required in‐office visits), Urgent in‐office visits (patient‐initiated, non‐protocol visits), non‐urgent in‐office visits (non‐protocol, patient‐initiated visits), emergency room admissions, and hospitalizations (bar graph showing length of hospital stay for each randomization group).

FIGURE 3. Heart failure patients newly implanted with ICD/CRTD from five implantation centers across four districts (Shanghai, Fuzhou, Qingdao, and Urumqi) were enrolled in this study. These centers used a 5G cloud platform to conduct follow‐up care for patients from surrounding cities.

FIGURE 4. Depiction of follow‐up model for patients in the 5G‐CTP group. Doctors at primary healthcare institutions connect the 5G‐supported terminal to the programmer and place the programming probe on the patient's ICD/CRTD device. Subsequently, they notify remote follow‐up experts via phone calls or text messages. Upon receiving the notification, remote follow‐up experts log in to the Cloud Follow‐up APP using tablets or mobile phones to establish a remote connection with the 5G‐supported terminal on the patient's end. Follow‐up experts can conduct real‐time inquiries, tests, and reprogramming operations on the ICD/CRTD device according to actual needs. Meanwhile, based on the assessment results of the patient's condition and the device, they implement corresponding intervention measures (such as health education, medication adjustments, etc.). The entire remote business system is deployed on cloud servers and employs multi‐layer protection mechanisms including firewalls, customized antivirus software, vulnerability scanning, and intrusion detection.