Mount St. Mary's Hospital offers advanced cardiac arrhythmia detection with world's smallest insertable cardiac monitor

Health center: Reveal LINQTM Implantable Cardiac Monitor provides greater comfort and convenience for patients seeking answers to their irregular heartbeats

For patients throughout Niagara County who suffer from transient or unexplained cardiac arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats), Mount St. Mary’s Hospital now offers an implantable cardiac monitoring system that features advanced diagnostic capabilities in a device one-third the size of a AAA battery.

Developed by Medtronic, the Reveal LINQ Insertable Cardiac Monitor (ICM) with TruRhythm Detection allows physicians to continuously and wirelessly monitor a patient’s heart for up to three years to detect irregular rhythms at any time. The system’s advanced monitoring capabilities also leads to fewer “false positives,” helping physicians detect and treat often difficult to diagnose heart arrhythmias.

“The significant reduction in false positives streamlines data review, saving valuable time, while enabling physicians to make faster, more accurate decisions for their patients,” said Arif S. Syed, M.D., a cardiologist at the Mount St. Mary’s Cardiac Center, who has implanted 18 Reveal LINQ devices to date. “Implanted through a tiny incision in the patient’s chest, the device is so discreet and comfortable that most patients won’t even know it’s there and can continue living normal lives.”

Common uses for Reveal LINQ ICM include monitoring patients for potential episodes of syncope (fainting), bradycardia (slow heartbeat), atrial fibrillation or AF (irregular and often fast heart rate), cardiac pause (brief absence of cardiac activity), and intermittent chest palpitations, as well as “cryptogenic” strokes (strokes of unknown cause).

A press release said, “By offering the Reveal LINQ ICM with TruRhythm Detection to patients, Mount St. Mary’s is continuing to lead the way by using the latest, most advanced technology to diagnose and treat heart disease.”