The PAP measurement system evaluated in the CHAMPION Trial^[1] is illustrated in Figure 3.  The implantable sensor is shown in the upper right-hand corner of the Figure.  It is a small MEMS-based pressure sensor about the size of a small paperclip.  There is no battery.  There are virtually no moving parts.  There is nothing to wear out, or to run out, or to be replaced, and now with 10 years’ experience with using this sensor, there have been no sensor failures.  The sensor is implanted using a simple right-heart catheter-based delivery system, and it can be implanted by virtually any type of cardiologist, from invasive or interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists, HF specialists, or general cardiologists.

The home electronic system makes it easy for the patient to use.  The patient simply lies back on the specialized pillow, shown on the lower left-hand corner of the Figure, and pushes one button.  When the patient pushes that button, the device is simultaneously powered via radio frequency, the pressure waveform information is extracted from the sensor, and then the information is sent from the cellular base station to a secure web site via a cellular link for clinician inspection.

And at the lower right-hand corner of the Figure is a typical trend plot for PAPs derived from this PAP measurement system, where systolic, diastolic, and mean PAPs are shown in red, green, and blue, respectively.  This also illustrates the paradigm that was tested in the CHAMPION Trial where, as seen in this example, the patient started with high PAP; medications were then adjusted to lower the pressures into the target range depicted by the blue shading, and kept there, allowing the patient in this particular example to remain well and out of the hospital without further HF hospitalizations.