Data Transmission Delay in Medtronic Reveal LINQ<sup>TM</sup> Implantable Cardiac Monitor: Clinical Experience in 520 Patients

Abstract

Background: The Implantable Cardiac Monitor (ICM) is an invaluable tool for detecting cardiac arrhythmias by providing physicians. Critical to the success of ICMs depends on how quickly and accurately the data can be transmitted to a physician's office after an arrhythmic event. Then, the clinical event can be analyzed and the treatment will be provided accordingly. However, no reports have been published as to how efficiently the ICM data is transmitted. Methods: There is a retrospective review of 520 patients who received a Medtronic Reveal LINQ TM between 2/01/2015 and 6/01/2017. The time from the arrhythmic event to the time of physician notification was calculated and reason for delay was noted. Results: One hundred and twenty patients out of 520 patients (23%) had arrhythmic events

Remote monitoring of atrial fibrillation recurrence using mHealth technology (REMOTE-AF)

“…A similar data upload issue was noted with the ILR. The Reveal LINQ™ device can store EGM data for 27 min of patient-activated episodes and 30 min of automatic-detected episodes, 39 hence, if multiple episodes are recorded over this time period without being downloaded to the base device, data are overwritten.…”

Performance of alert transmissions from cardiac implantable electronic devices to the CareLink network: A retrospective analysis

“…Chokesuwattanaskul and colleagues showed that 63% of the data transmission delay was due to the MyCareLink transceiver not being in close enough proximity to the device, whereas the remaining 37% was caused by connectivity issues between the transceiver and the network. 12 Muniyappa and colleagues found that only 31% of patients were completely adherent to remote monitoring. 13 This is especially significant, given that the level of adherence to remote monitoring correlates with patient outcomes.…”

Preliminary results from the LUX‐Dx insertable cardiac monitor remote programming and performance (LUX‐Dx PERFORM) study

“…Likewise, transmission rates between the ICM and data management systems have been an issue in the past, 16 with reported transmission success <80% 17 . These delays have the potential to impact patient care as only 11.7% of identified life‐threatening events were transmitted from the Medtronic Reveal LINQ™ cardiac monitor within 24 h and 35.8% took longer than 10 days to be transmitted in a 2019 study 16 . Here, the Bluetooth interface between the LUX‐Dx and the LATITUDE Clarity system, via dedicated smartphones, has been excellent with daily transmissions occurring 86% of the time, and comparable to those achieved with handheld wands and bedside transmitters that report success rates, ranging from 79.5% for the Medtronic Reveal LINQ™ 17 and 92.2%, 18 93.8%, 19 and 94.9% 20 for the Biotronik BioMonitor 2.…”

“…This low rate of infection is consistent with other reports of low infection rates (0%-1.6%) [11][12][13][14][15] The device performance measures reported here affirm in vivo prior findings in an in silico environment. Likewise, transmission rates between the ICM and data management systems have been an issue in the past, 16 with reported transmission success <80%. 17 These delays have the potential to impact patient care as only 11.7% of identified life-threatening events were transmitted from the Medtronic Reveal LINQ™ cardiac monitor within 24 h and 35.8% took longer than 10 days to be transmitted in a 2019 study.…”