Longer-lasting battery technology for heart devices

New guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will enable people with heart failure to benefit from longer-lasting battery technology in implantable heart rhythm devices.

The longer lasting battery, which is expected to benefit over 3,000 patients, means that patients will need fewer operations to replace it, which is more convenient for them and save the NHS £6 million over five years.

People with heart failure have an increased risk of developing life threatening irregular heartbeat and sudden cardiac death is the most common cause of death in people with mild to moderate heart failure.

Professor Carole Longson, director of the NICE centre for health technology evaluation, said: “Having a longer battery life for CRT-D devices helps improve patient experience by increasing the time between replacements, meaning fewer overall replacement surgeries. It could also mean a reduction in healthcare costs for replacement surgery such as hospital admissions and bed days, as well as a reduction in complications such as infections, which are higher in replacement surgery.”

The guidance supports the use of ENDURALIFE-powered cardiac resynchronisation therapy-defibrillator (CRT-D) devices - a small battery powered device that controls the pace of the heartbeat, delivering a small electric shock to return the heartbeat to its normal rhythm if necessary.

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This story was first published in digitalhealth.net

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