Telemedicine and remote monitoring in heart failure

Abstract

Abstract Despite advances in pharmacological and device therapies for patients with heart failure (HF), morbidity and mortality, and in particular the rate of HF hospitalizations, remain very high resulting in a considerable health economic burden. Remote monitoring (RM) added to guideline-directed drug and device therapies offers an improvement in care delivery and clinical outcomes for patients regardless of left ventricular ejection fraction. Ninety per cent of HF patients exhibit volume overload when admitted to the hospital. Consequently, most RM approaches and technologies target fluid volume management as a means for improving outcomes. A great variety of innovative RM technologies, such as wearable and implantable devices, algorithms, or systems of care have been introduced and others are under investigation, to optimize volume overload management. In this chapter, we discuss unmet needs in the management of patients with HF and how some forms of RM contribute to improved patient outcomes.