combined use of biotronik home monitoring and predefined anticoagulation to reduce stroke risk

Conditions: Atrial Fibrillation; Atrial Flutter; Stroke; Embolism, Systemic Arterial; Major Bleeding

Summary: the impact study will investigate the potential clinical benefit of the combined use of biotronik home monitoring (hm) technology and a predefined anticoagulation plan compared to conventional device evaluation and physician-directed anticoagulation in patients with implanted dual-chamber defibrillators or cardiac resynchronization therapy devices.

atrial fibrillation (af) and atrial flutter (afl) are common cardiac arrhythmias associated with an increased incidence of stroke in patients with additional risk factors. oral anticoagulation (oac) reduces stroke risk, but because these arrhythmias are frequently intermittent and asymptomatic, start of oac therapy is often delayed until electrocardiographic documentation is obtained. technological advances in implanted dual-chamber cardioverter defibrillator (icd) or cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (crt-d) devices allow early detection and real time verification of af/afl with intracardiac electrograms (iegm) automatically transmitted to the clinicians. such remote diagnostic capability might be particularly relevant in patients with asymptomatic af by allowing timely treatment. compared to conventional periodic, (e.g., quarterly) office device evaluation, daily remote monitoring may prove superior for diagnosis of af and prophylactic treatment of thromboembolism. the start, stop and restart of oac based on a predefined atrial rhythm-guided strategy in conjunction with a standard risk-stratification scheme could lead to better clinical outcomes compared with conventional clinical care. the study is designed to demonstrate a risk reduction of both thromboembolism proximate to episodes of documented af/afl and bleeding potentiated by chronic oac in the absence of af. verification of this premise would impact the clinical practice, providing evidence to physicians for the use of hm to guide oac in patients with af/afl. the results of this study should demonstrate the clinical value of wireless remote surveillance of the cardiac rhythm and may define the critical threshold of af/afl burden warranting oac or antiarrhythmic drug therapy in patients at risk of stroke

Eligibility criteria:
key inclusion criteria: * candidates for implantation of, or already implanted with, a biotronik lumax hf-t or dr-t device * documented p wave mean amplitude ≥ 1.0 mv (sinus rhythm) or ≥ 0.5 mv (af) at enrollment, if previously implanted * chads2 risk score ≥ 1 * able and willing to follow oac therapy if the indication develops during the course of the trial * able to utilize the hm throughout the study key exclusion criteria: * permanent af * history of stroke, transient ischemic attack (tia) or systemic embolism and documented af or afl * currently requiring oac therapy for any indication * patients who underwent successful af ablation (sinus rhythm restored) and have not completed a minimum of 3 months of oac therapy * known, current contraindication to use of eligible oac * long qt or brugada syndrome as the sole indication for device implantation * life expectancy less than the expected term of the study

Keywords: implanted cardioverter defibrillator cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator home monitoring oral anticoagulation