St Jude Medical said that AnalyST implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) provides life-saving therapy for dangerously fast heart rhythms, but also continuously monitors electrical changes (called ST segments) to help physicians monitor for cardiac problems.The new monitoring capability may allow physicians to intervene earlier to help reduce patient risks.

St Jude Medical also stated that AnalyST ICD not only provides continuous information, but it also provides high-fidelity electrograms from the inside of the heart for accurate detection of a wide range of ST segment changes. When combined with other data available to physicians, ST segment information helps physicians make better-informed, evidence-based decisions for patient care.

St Jude Medical claimed that AnalyST ICD is the industry’s first device to continuously monitor specific changes in the heart’s electrical system that can indicate conditions such as ischemia. Learning about these conditions earlier may lead to more timely diagnosis and therapy for patients, and possibly improve patient prognosis.

Reportedly, with the device’s monitoring diagnostic, small changes in ST segment are continuously and precisely recorded and plotted and then retrieved for the physician to review during patient follow-up visits.

St Jude Medical said that in the near future, physicians also will be able to monitor patients’ ST segment changes via remote transmissions from the its Merlin home transmitter (a wireless remote monitoring system in patients’ homes), and are expected to receive alerts through the Merlin.net patient care network.

Morio Shoda, associate professor of department of cardiology at Tokyo Women’s Medical University, said: “The AnalyST ICD is an implantable device that provides ST segment monitoring reports via high-quality, intracardiac electrograms, as well as additional ST segment diagnostic reports.

“I look forward to accessing this new and valuable information for more insight into the condition of my ICD patients with ischemia or idiopathic VF, including Brugada syndrome.”