Remote ECG Monitoring of TAVI Patients

Overview

After surgery, patients who undergo transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) are at risk of developing cardiac arrhythmias such as heart blocks and atrial fibrillation. Current practice is to monitor TAVI patients in hospital for 2-8 days post procedure using scarce and expensive hospital telemetry beds. This study will use a new monitoring service called mobile Cardiac Arrhythmia Diagnostics Service (m-CARDS) to risk stratify patient pre-TAVI and provide an added layer of monitoring that would support earlier discharge of suitably identified patients 24-hours post TAVI. The study will assess whether this strategy will significantly reduce the pressure on hospital resources while improving patient outcomes and experience.

Aortic stenosis (AS), the most common valvular heart disease, occurs when there is a narrowing of the aortic valve opening. New transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI, also called transcatheter aortic valve replacement \[TAVR\]), is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that is rapidly expanding as the dominant treatment modality for elderly patients with AS. Approximately 1000 patients will undergo TAVR surgery in Ontario in fiscal year 2018-2019 and that number is expected to increase to \~80% of all valve replacement surgery within the next 5 years. Patients that undergo TAVI are at risk of developing cardiac arrhythmias such as heart block and atrial fibrillation and many are routinely monitored in-hospital for 5-8 days post-surgery. Currently, this monitoring is done using scarce and expensive hospital telemetry beds. This study uses a novel clinical pathway including remote monitoring pre- and post-TAVI using a new service called mobile Cardiac Arrhythmia Diagnostics Service (m-CARDS™). m-CARDS™ consists of a patient cardiac monitoring device that transmits cardiac data in real time to a centralized center. Patients wearing the device can remain in the comfort of their own home while being monitored remotely. The monitoring device is Health Canada approved and has been used extensively. Because it is highly sensitive to cardiac arrhythmias, including all levels of heart block, it is ideally suited for this type of monitoring. If this pathway is adopted across all centres it will significantly reduce the pressure on hospital resources while at the same time improve the patient experience, enabling them to get home sooner. Hospital telemetry is very expensive. Reducing the length of stay from 2-8 days on average to 24hr for many patients would represent cost savings to the hospitals and province. While some studies show that patients could be discharged earlier, there is still significant variability in adopting a short length of stay post-TAVI due to a perceived need for inpatient monitoring and lack of adequate knowledge and data on feasibility of remote outpatient monitoring. In addition, the pre-TAVR monitoring will enhance our ability to predict and plan for interventions such as permanent pacemaker implantation. The primary objective of this project will be to facilitate the implementation of this monitoring technology into a busy tertiary care setting and better understand the conditions necessary for successful implementation. This will be achieved through ongoing stakeholder engagement (patient, provider, and hospital administrators) at all stages of the implementation program and close evaluation of quality metrics to ensure fidelity of the m-CARDS™ system. Overall, implementation of this system is expected to impact the following levels of the health care system: i) Patient-Level: Improved quality of life through "better care closer to home" facilitated by physician supported monitoring before TAVI and post-TAVI discharge from hospital. ii) Provider-Level/Organizational-Level: Integrate the m-CARDS™ system into a busy TAVI clinical care pathway that can be adapted at other TAVI centres and ensure physician/administrator engagement/confidence in this novel technology. iii) System-Level: Reduced (1) hospital length of stay and associated costs, (2) readmissions and unplanned medical visits, and (3) likelihood of hospital acquired infections.