- Thank you for visiting this video segment for Dr. AFib.
I'm Dr. Morales.
In today's video segment, we're going to be talking about
implantable cardiac monitors,
also called loop recorders.
I've had several questions on my Facebook
over the last several weeks talking about,
asking questions about implantable monitors
or chips that get put underneath their skin.
Implantable cardiac monitors are small little devices
that go underneath your skin to monitor your heart rhythm.
I'm sure many people who have atrial fibrillation
have worn external monitors on their skin,
such as a 24-hour monitor or a 30-day monitor,
which those are very useful for your doctor's office.
However, I've talked many times on my platforms that
managing atrial fibrillation is a long term issue
and requires long term management.
And so when people are wearing a 24-hour
or a 30-day monitor,
what happens when a patient gets symptoms
or episodes after that monitor is over?
If the patient is no longer wearing that monitor,
it can be very difficult for your doctor to know
what it is that you're experiencing
or perhaps even during a 30-day monitor.
Maybe you never had any episode
to really be able to tell what it is that you are feeling.
Fortunately now there's great options,
which are implantable loop recorders.
Implantable loop recorders,
which I have a small demonstration right here,
are these small little devices
that actually go underneath your skin.
They take typically five minutes to put in.
Basically make a cut in your skin right about here,
about the size of a fingertip,
and basically put this underneath your skin
just like that right over where your heart goes.
Again, it usually only takes five minutes to put in
and then you go home.
This monitor here is like heart monitors that you have worn
in your doctor's office, except it's inside of you
underneath your skin.
You don't have to actually wear anything
and you can go live your life
and do all your normal activities.
These devices have a battery life that lasts
for typically around three years.
And so it can give your doctor
a lot of information over a period of several years
to know how your atrial fibrillation is doing.
So what are the main reasons why somebody should consider
having one of these little monitors put in?
There are several reasons why this could be beneficial
to some patients.
One of them would be for people who have
very severe sudden symptoms.
If you have these several sudden symptoms
that are very short
that your doctor has been unable to catch
with monitors on top of your skin.
And by the time you either see the doctor
or go to an emergency room, your fast heart rate has gone.
This is something that can help your doctor
to detect what it is that you're actually feeling,
whether it's atrial fibrillation
or whether it's something else.
Another useful feature of these gadgets
is for people who actually may have
dizziness episodes or even passing out
in association with their AFib.
Passing out can be very sudden
and without any warning sign
and unless you actually catch an episode
when it's actually happening,
it's hard for your doctor to actually figure out
if that passing out or dizziness
is related to either your AFib or slow heart rate
and how to better manage it.
Another good feature of these little devices is
for people who have had a stroke
where they're not certain why a person had a stroke.
It's called a cryptogenic stroke
and I did a video about it in the past.
People, when they have a stroke
and it's not really clear why,
a very common reason could be atrial fibrillation
or undetected atrial fibrillation.
And so having these monitors in place
can help detect previously undetected atrial fibrillation
and help put patients on the right treatment plans
to prevent any future strokes.
And one of the other treatment options
which I use commonly,
one of the reasons why I commonly use this in my patients
is for the management of someone's atrial fibrillation.
There are many people out there who can't tell
that they're in atrial fibrillation at all.
Although there are obviously some patients
that can tell right away,
there are many people that, they just can't tell,
they can't feel, or they have very subtle symptoms
when they're in atrial fibrillation.
And what this device can do is help my office better gauge
how the person's atrial fibrillation is doing,
whether they're having more episodes
or progressing in their AFib.
With these gadgets, I have been able to detect AFib
or more consistent AFib more more sooner
than waiting for the patient to actually
feel something or to develop symptoms.
I've had many patients
that have I've had to call into the office
because this device has told me that
they've been in atrial fibrillation for two weeks
or a month or so.
And even if they don't feel anything,
I bring them into the office
so that we can start discussing treatment options.
The other great thing about these gadgets is that
they send routine reports over to your doctor's office.
Usually, they're a monthly report
which are usually send through either a smartphone
or a little home monitor that you have at home.
These little gadgets do have a little antenna in it
which transmits the data over to either your smartphone
or to the home monitor that you get.
There's a couple different brands available right now,
the Medtronic Linq as well as the Abbott Confirm,
which are both great implantable loop recorders.
And I use both of them on my patients.
Any time you're gonna do an implantable loop recorder,
always discuss with your doctor
what the further plan is,
whether you'll need it for just a few months
or possibly even for the entirety of the battery life,
which is about three years.
These are typically covered by insurance.
The implant of it,
like I said, is usually only five minutes
and it's typically covered by insurance.
And your doctor should get pre-approval
before they actually do the procedure itself.
But obviously discuss with your doctor also
the followup monitoring,
if it's gonna be covered by insurance.
I actually recently started having more patients
where the, those 30-day monitoring reports from home
are not being covered by insurance.
And so you'll have to discuss with doctor
if the actual implant procedure
as well as the monitoring afterwards
will be covered by your insurance.
Fortunately for those in which the monitoring
is not covered by insurance,
you can still come in the office
and get this checked in person.
So there are a few options available.
But I've found this to be a very useful tool
for a lot of patients with atrial fibrillation.
The device in these sizes has been around
for probably close to five years now.
They used to be the size of a finger
and they used to be much less used
than they are in their current size.
And now in this current size,
much more patients are using it.
And I've found it be a very useful tool
for managing several patients' atrial fibrillation.
But as always, please discuss with your doctor
if an implantable loop recorder
is the right option for you.
Thank you for visiting this video segment for Dr. AFib.
I'll see you next time.