three weeks at a time, as has been the case in the past few years.”
Retired civil servant, Philip Scott, 84, from Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, was also among the first group of patients to have the CardioMEMS implanted. Married with two children and four grandchildren, Mr Scott has always enjoyed an active life, living and travelling all over the world before retiring from HM Overseas Civil Service in 1992.
Diagnosed with heart failure in 2014, Mr Scott was referred to Royal Brompton Hospital and received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) in February this year. His cardiologist recommended he consider also having the CardioMEMS fitted to monitor his heart failure remotely.
“My hope is that by having the device it will mean I don’t have to visit hospital as frequently as I need to at present. My family thinks it’s wonderful and we consider it a great privilege that I’m one of the first patients in the UK to have it.”
The procedure to implant the novel CardioMEMS device was carried out by leading cardiologists, Dr Mark Mason and Dr Rakesh Sharma, in a cardiac catheter lab. The patients did not require sedation for the half hour procedure and were able to be discharged from hospital the next day.