BMG physicians first to use new heart technology

Stern Cardiovascular Foundation doctors recently implanted the first Reveal LINQ Insertable Cardiac Monitor System in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas at Baptist Memphis. A week later, Baptist Medical Group cardiologist Dr. Edward Evans implanted the first one in Mississippi at Baptist DeSoto.

The Medtronic Reveal LINQ Insertable Cardiac Monitor System is the smallest implantable cardiac monitoring device available for patients. The Reveal LINQ ICM is about one-third the size of an AAA battery, making it more than 80 percent smaller than other ICMs. The device is part of a system that allows physicians to monitor a patient’s heart continuously and wirelessly in real time for up to three years. It can even notify physicians if their patients have had cardiac events.

The new technology is designed for patients who experience dizziness, palpitations, syncope (fainting) and chest pain that may suggest a cardiac arrhythmia, and for patients at increased risk for cardiac arrhythmias.

Before this device, patients had to wear a heavy heart monitor for at least 24 hours and up to 30 days. Doctors didn’t get the results until the patient returned to the office. Now, the patient’s results are immediately sent to the physicians. The Reveal LINQ ICM is another in a series of technologies that Baptist Memorial Health Care and BMG physicians offer patients.