Findings of remote monitoring of implantable cardioverter defibrillators during the covid-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Monitoring of cardiac implantable electronic devices was highly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic considering the high volume of in-person visits for regular follow-up. Recent recommendations highlight the important role of remote monitoring to prevent exposure to the virus. This study compared remote monitoring of implantable cardioverter defibrillators in patients whose in-person annual visit was substituted for a remote monitoring session with patients who were already scheduled for a remote monitoring session. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional observational study of 329 consecutive patients between March 20th and April 24th 2020. Group 1 included 131 patients whose in-person annual visit was substituted for a remote monitoring session. Group 2 included 198 patients who underwent a remote monitoring session as scheduled in their usual device follow-up. The time interval since the last in-person visit was 13.3± 3.2 months in group 1 and 5.9± 1.7 months in group 2 (p 0.99). CONCLUSION: Remote monitoring of implantable cardioverter defibrillators is useful to identify clinical events and allows physicians to treat patients appropriately during the COVID-19 pandemic regardless of the time interval since their last in-person visit. It reduces significantly in-person visit for regular follow-up. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.