CardioTRAK: Pacemaker monitoring system for physicians, peace of mind for patients

Priority: No

With a population of over 3 million pacemaker patients worldwide, growing by 600,000 annually, pacemaker monitoring systems are becoming an important medical care service. According to the American Heart Association, 400,000 patients die from pacemaker malfunction every year. Furthermore, 33% of these deaths result from slow emergency response, with average arrival times of 20-30 minutes after malfunction occurrence. To decrease mortality after device failure, a pacemaker monitoring system with a faster detection system is needed. Current systems require an available landline to transmit a patient’s pacemaker status to the physician, which limits the detection window to only a few hours a day. CardioTRAK will use a mobile phone application to ensure immediate emergency response by monitoring the pacemaker continuously and detecting potential malfunction every 5 minutes. Depending on the problem, push notifications will either inform the patient and physician of the malfunction or contact emergency services automatically. This continuous monitoring system will be first of its kind to provide a 5-minute detection window, ensuring immediate transmission of information to all stakeholders; the patient, physician, and emergency care. CardioTRAK will save 60,000 lives every year, reducing the mortality rate due to emergency response by half.