Key result
Telehealth post-ablation monitoring linked to a near-fourfold increase in ECG surveillance time vs. conventional care.
Why the study?
There is a strong demand for remote monitoring systems to gather health data and improve outpatient care after catheter ablation, but the safety and usefulness of telehealth with real-time ECG monitoring remain to be investigated.
Does telehealth follow-up with real-time ECG monitoring improve ECG monitoring duration and patient satisfaction while reducing hospital visits in patients after catheter ablation compared to conventional in-person follow-up?
Cohort (n=140)
No
Does telehealth follow-up with real-time ECG monitoring improve ECG monitoring duration and patient satisfaction while reducing hospital visits in patients after catheter ablation compared to conventional in-person follow-up?
Absolute Event Rate: 89% vs 24%
p-value: p=<0.0001
A telehealth follow-up strategy combining home-delivered continuous ECG monitoring with online video consultations safely reduces hospital visits and significantly increases monitoring duration for stable patients after catheter ablation.
May extend post-ablation monitoring via telehealth; leaves open outcome benefits pending randomized trials.
Background There is a strong demand for remote monitoring systems to gather health data. This study investigated the safety, usefulness, and patient satisfaction in outpatient care using telehealth with real-time electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring after catheter ablation. Methods and Results In all, 38 patients who underwent catheter ablation were followed up using telehealth. At the 3- and 6-month follow-up, a self-fitted Duranta ECG monitoring device was sent to the patient’s home before the online consultation. Patients attached the devices themselves, and the doctors viewed the patients by video chat and performed real-time ECG monitoring. The frequency of hospital visits and the ECG monitoring duration were compared with conventional in-person follow-up data (n=102). The completion rate for telehealth follow-up was 32 of 38 patients (84%). The number of hospital visits during the 6 months was significantly lower with telehealth follow-up than with conventional follow-up (median [interquartile range] 1 [1–1] vs. 5 [3–5]; P<0.0001). However, the ECG monitoring duration was approximately 4-fold longer for the telehealth follow-up (median [interquartile range] 89 [64–117] vs. 24 [0.1–24] h; P<0.0001). No major adverse events were observed during the telehealth follow-up. Patient surveys showed high satisfaction with telehealth follow-up due to reduced hospital visits. Conclusions A combination of telehealth follow-up with real-time ECG monitoring increased the ECG monitoring duration and patient satisfaction without any adverse events.
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Takami et al. (2023) conducted a cohort in Arrhythmia post-catheter ablation (n=140). Telehealth follow-up with real-time ECG monitoring vs. Conventional in-person follow-up was evaluated on Duration of ECG monitoring during the 6 months post-ablation (hours, median) (p=<0.0001). Telehealth follow-up with real-time ECG monitoring significantly increased the median duration of ECG monitoring compared to conventional care (89 vs. 24 hours) after catheter ablation.
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