Remote monitoring of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators and resynchronization devices to improve patient outcomes: dead end or way ahead?

Remote monitoring (RM) has become a new standard of care in the follow-up of patients with implantable pacemakers and defibrillators. While it has been consistently shown that RM enables earlier detection of clinically actionable events compared with traditional in-patient evaluation, this advantage did not translate into improved patient outcomes in clinical trials of RM except one study using daily multiparameter telemonitoring in heart failure (HF) patients. Therefore, this review, focusing on RM studies of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators in patients with HF, discusses possible explanations for the differences in trial outcomes. Patient selection may play an important role as more severe HF and concomitant atrial fibrillation have been associated with improved outcomes by RM. Furthermore, the technical set-up of RM may have an important impact as a higher level of connectivity with more frequent data transmission can be linked to better outcomes. Finally, there is growing evidence as to the need of effective algorithms ensuring a fast and well-structured clinical response to the events detected by RM. These factors re-emphasize the potential of remote management of device patients with HF and call for continued clinical research and technical development in the field.