Reveal Linq Monitor

Greetings to all,

I'm headed to Austin for a 1/27/15 ablation with Dr. Natale.

To those of you who have preceded me and received the implantable Linq Monitor, can you respond with your experiences?

Is there any reason not to get it?

I would prefer that my heart is monitored 24/7 for arrhythmia in lieu of sporadically whenever a holter or other manual monitor is used, especially since I'm predominately asymptomatic. The thought of it being implanted under my skin for months/years does not bother me whatsoever.

Thoughts?

Thanks.
Ken

I believe I was the 1st patient to have the linq device installed in my chest in Feb 2014 when Dr. Natale did my Cather ablation for persistent AFIB.

It works GREAT! The Austin team sees your recordings everyday and it has worked well for me. I got this email from Dr. Natales Staff


Thanks; HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!
David Hayes
On 12/31/2014 2:07 PM, Curry.Teckenbrock@stdavids.com wrote

Mr. Hayes:

Your Linq recordings have been great no afib seen. Have a great NEW YEAR!!

Curry Teckenbrock, RN
Nurse Educator
Center for Arrhythmias and Atrial Fibrillation
St. David’s Medical Center
3000 North IH 35 Suite 720
Austin, TX 78705
Phone: 512.544.8182 Fax: 512.544.8184



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2015 10:39AM by smackman.

Hi Ken and Smackman,

I think its a good idea to get the LINQ, especially in a case like yours and Smackman's where your AFIB was largely asymptomatic prior to ablation. It can be a bit sore under the skin for the first few weeks, but that will disappear entirely as Smackman can attest.

And Smackman, its important to understand too that Dr Natales staff does not automatically read everyones daily recordings. The check it at 3 to 6 weeks post ablation and then periodically for those with asymptomatic AFIB, and also will check it before your visits to see Dr Natale or your nurse practitioner .... or whenever you call with reports of any suspicious activity. If of any signals activity are reported by LINQs too they would check it out as well.

But they do not examine your recordings at anything close to an every day check, as that would of course quickly overwhelm even their large staff and more and more people get the LINQ implanted. Nevertheless, its a great tool and any arrhythmia you might have or have had in the past since you got the device installed can easily be checked after the fact or on demand.

Cheers!
Shannon

Shannon is right. I meant to say IF a problem is found by Medtronics, The staff at Austin is notified and you will be called OR lets say you feel you are having issue, There is a separate device that you can mark your recording with called
Medtronic REVEAL.

I have used the Medtronic REVEAL a few times in the last 3 weeks; I called my Nurse educator to make her aware of this.
She called me back the next day after they studied the recordings and it was PVC's. It was due to Panic Attacks; I struggle with Anxiety around Christmas and Winter months BUT NO AFIB.

If you feel something is not right, call your Nurse educator and they will look into it and call you back; They have never failed me.

It is a great tool; I do not even know it is in my chest now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2015 11:20AM by smackman.

Smackman,
Excellent.......exactly the feedback I was looking for.

Shannon/Smackman,
Even though it isn't monitored daily by a person, certainly it is screened by the software receiving the raw data for abnormalities and if present, an alert is sent to the physician's office for review.......is this correct? If not, then it would be missing the greatest characteristic I was hoping for.....detection of the return of asymptomatic afib.......

Shannon,
Thanks for taking time to respond. I hope things continue to progress positively for you and your wife.

Best wishes.
Ken

kls5834 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Smackman,
> Excellent.......exactly the feedback I was looking
> for.
>
> Shannon/Smackman,
> Even though it isn't monitored daily by a person,
> certainly it is screened by the software receiving
> the raw data for abnormalities and if present, an
> alert is sent to the physician's office for
> review.......is this correct? If not, then it
> would be missing the greatest characteristic I was
> hoping for.....detection of the return of
> asymptomatic afib.......
>
> Shannon,
> Thanks for taking time to respond. I hope things
> continue to progress positively for you and your
> wife.
>
> Best wishes.
> Ken

If you MARK a particular episode and it is bad, They will contact you OR call your Nurse educator and tell her/him your concerns and they will look at your data that is automatically sent in the early morning hours while you sleep. I thimk it between 3 AM and 5 AM but I know its in the early morning hours.

You will LOVE this device. No Holster monitor to tote around; just a device embedded in your chest that holds all your data of your heart and is sent everyday OR you can send it manually. It is all easy to learn.

Good luck with your Ablation! I have not had a AFIB episode since my Ablation on Feb. 27, 2014.

Also, they "think" the battery life of the linq is approx. 3 years. I know it is read every month by someone in Dr. Natales team because I get billed monthly for this thru my insurance.

I had one implanted by Dr. Di Biase in the Bronx in September. I am very grateful to have it, as I cannot imagine having to wear an external monitor outside of the house for any significant period of time. Even the "small" ones are so bulky and noticeable and annoying.

I've heard many different things about how often it actually transmits data. Sometimes mine hasn't transmitted automatically for 10+ days, either due to me not being in the room at that time or not sleeping close enough to the transmitter or there being a signal problem (or there not being any significant episodes to send). But in any event, you can always send it manually which only takes a minute.

You can't see mine at all, and it often takes me a minute to even be able to locate it by touch. I do have a small scar at the implant site which I'd guess will become invisible as time goes on.

The implantation itself was no big deal. At Montefiore in the Bronx they give you some "happy drugs" for the procedure to make you almost completely out of it (in a good way), but a nurse in Austin told me that they do not do that, they only use a local anesthetic.

Thanks, Johnny. I'll get mine next Tuesday if all goes well.

Ken

Good Idea. My local EP suggested the LINQ, which I had implanted in Dec. 2014. Prior to this I querried Dr. Saliba at CC, who performed my 2 ablations, regarding the advisability of doing this in order to see if I could go off Xarelto. I received no feedback from Dr. Saliba, but went ahead anyway. It was worthwhile to do this as I discovered that I have brief infrequent AFIB episodes that I was unaware of, and will probably stay on the Xarelto.

Thanks, Peter. I've committed to getting it.....ablation next Tuesday!

Hi Johnny M,

Good to hear from you, I believe the folks at Austin saying they dont give 'happy drugs' for the LINQ install meaning that they use only a local anesthetic only if the LINQ is a stand alone office visit install. The device these days is often installed during the last moment of an ablation as it will be in Ken's case, while he is still under the influence of general anesthesia and yet they still give a local anesthetic too to provide longer local pain relief as the general anesthesia wears off.

You will do just fine Tuesday Ken, you've made the best decision possible and can truly just relax and go with the flow, say Hi to Matt Dare who will be running the ablation table itself from the time they slide you over from the gurney to the ablation table with all the large LED monitoring screens on one side. I will be thinking of you and will drop the good Doctor a note this weekend giving him a heads up that he has one of our regulars in his lab that morning and wishing him happy AFIB hunting as well.

Cheers!
Shannon

Shannon,

Thanks for the kind words and expression of confidence, as well as dropping a note to the "Maestro". I will be certain to identify Matt and tell him you said hello.

Again, I want to say thanks for the help and guidance you have given me, along with the many others you help on this board, even though you have your own personal difficulties. Your contributions to people visiting this board are immeasurable. I am very grateful to have found you and the others here.

As I've told Jackie, I am excited about my trip to Austin. I'll leave around 5am in the morning---almost 900 mile trip. I see Natale for consult on Monday morning. Ablation is scheduled for Tuesday at 730am----so I guess I'm first up. I have to arrive at 5am. No problem for me....I'm an early riser.

I know it will be fine. I'm so looking forward to being rid of this afib....and the meds......and simply, just not having to worry over it. Again, I'm excited to do it.

Thanks for all you do!!

Sincerely,
Ken

My procedure is this Thursday, 5-March, with Dr. Natale. This thread was helpful, but I'm still on the fence about the Reveal Linq monitor. If the other option was an event monitor with the stickers and wires, there would be no question about it - but a monitor I place over my heart as needed doesn't seem so bad.

As things stand now, my A-fib is paroxysmal but I also have paroxysmal PSVT and Flutter. I never know exactly what my heart is doing when I'm having symptoms - I just know something is not right. I probably average 1-2 significant episodes/7-10 days (significant meaning I feel compelled to take metoprolol/flecainide to get it to convert due to severity or duration of symptoms).

Anyways, I just wonder if this monitor is overkill in my case (given that I'm not persistent). I don't have any apprehension about having something inserted per se but wouldn't mind avoiding a subsequent procedure for removal of the device (apparently the removal is not just an office visit ... more like outpatient surgery). I guess I'm also being optimistic that Dr. Natale is going to knock it out.

Then of course there is the cost differential question ... which I don't have an answer to yet. My nurse educator is looking into it but the monitor person is out until Wednesday.

Grady

Your insurance us billed roughly $6,500 to $7,500 for the LINQ monitor and insertion procedure, calibration etc, the hospital won't get that much but such is the game of US health care where esch hospital has their own guidebook for procedure charges that have to submit to private insurance or Medicare in order to get back what they feel is the real cost including any profit needed to do business.

March 5th U.S. really Afibbers.org day at St Davids!

Travis is the early bird in Thursday and Grady plus Georges' friend all on the same day.

You guys can have a regular Afibbers Hootenanny that night celebrating being on the other side of the fence!

Cheers!
Shannon

Thanks Shannon for you input. I'm looking forward to it ... especially given my current state. I've been "significant" symptom free for about 2 weeks and now that I'm in the "no meds" window (except Eliquis, of course) ... I'm in A-fib this morning. Luckily HR is only in the 90-100 range ... so it's not too bad, but pulse is uneven and it's definitely distracting me from work where I'm usually king of concentration.

Anyways, cost considerations aside ... do you feel the persistent vs. paroxysmal indications have any weight when considering this device vs. the other alternative?