On the 21st of February, 2018, the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) released the final report on telemonitoring of active cardiac implantable devices for ventricular tachyarrhythmias and heart failure. This report aimed to assess the results of clinical trials in terms of benefits of telemonitoring of cardiac implantable electronic devices (ICD, CRT-P and CRT-D) compared to a standard treatment without telemonitoring in patients with ventricular tachyarrhythmias and / or heart failure.
The following conclusions were made by IQWiG:
- Nowadays, it remains unclear whether the telemonitoring has advantages for patients with cardiac failure or heart rhythm disorders with a fast heart rate (ventricular tachyarrhythmia);
- Data on adverse events and quality of life are still lacking due to availability of incomplete study results only;
- Regarding other outcome criteria (cardiovascular mortality, stroke, decompensated heart failure, myocardial infarction etc.), the treatment results with telemonitoring were neither better nor worse than without telemonitoring.
In August 2017, IQWiG published the preliminary report and interested parties were invited to submit comments, so that the final report was produced in collaboration with external experts.
See full details in German here.
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