Remote Monitoring of Micromed’s Heart Pump

Numerex Corp. officials announce that the company has developed a complete Device-Network-Application (DNA) solution for remote cellular monitoring of MicroMed Cardiovascular Inc.’s HeartAssist5 System. 

Numerex led the innovation and development of the new wireless monitoring connectivity and software application for the HeartAssist5 System, the latter consisting of two devices developed by MicroMed: the HeartAssist5 Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) and the MicroMed Controller. The MicroMed HeartAssist5 LVAD was originally developed by the world famous heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey in partnership with NASA. It is the only LVAD with a precise, direct flow measurement system and cellular-based remote monitoring.

“The partnership with Numerex has been spectacular. They provided the expertise we need along with their Numerex DNA solution to move our idea quickly and reliably to market,” says Bryan Lynch, vice president of product development at MicroMed. 

Prior to Numerex implementing the new M2M technology, clinicians accessed device data after the body-worn external controller unit was physically plugged into the MicroMed Heart Attendant and transmitted via a local internet connection. This limited mobility and continuous reporting could not occur.

The MicroMed Cardiovascular team sought a solution to improve real-time visibility to the devices and engaged Numerex to integrate a cellular radio into the MicroMed Controller, provide cellular network services, and deliver a web-based application to consolidate and present the reported data for clinicians to review.

“This is a good example of the value-added services Numerex brings to their enterprise customers to deliver new solutions,” states Mike Marett, chief revenue officer of Numerex. “MicroMed brought their deep domain expertise and a strong core product to us. After which we applied our M2M expertise and leveraged our platforms to enable a rapid product evolution and ultimately enable the many new benefits associated with continuous connectivity and monitoring.”

The MicroMed Cardiovascular M2M application was built using the secure, reliable Numerex FAST platform. As part of the Numerex DNA solution, the firmware was optimized to reduce the size of the data packet transmissions, ultimately optimizing from over 50MB to less than 4MB per month and resulting in significant efficiencies and cost savings. Remote monitoring of the device is now continuous and consistent, allowing for relevant device statistics to be reported around the clock. More importantly, any anomalies in the device are reported in real-time.