CardioMEMS Device Displacement Causing Sensor Error

The CardioMEMS device (Abbott), approved for use in patients with New York Heart Association functional class III heart failure with prior hospitalization for heart failure, is a pressure sensor implanted percutaneously in a segmental pulmonary artery, calibrated in real time with a pulmonary artery catheter, and interrogated remotely at home using an electromagnetic receiver that transmits centrally to a cloud storage platform. The system allows for ambulatory heart failure management by targeting pulmonary artery pressures to maintain euvolemia.

This echocardiogram from a woman in her 70s whose device stopped transmitting accurate pressure readings 1.5 weeks after implantation shows prominent tethering of tricuspid valve leaflets, with the device lodged in the subvalvular apparatus of the tricuspid valve (arrow). The device was not mobile so no intervention was performed, and it continued to transmit accurate readings with the patient in the prone position.

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