A patient home management system for monitoring cardiac devices; a remote monitoring device; a gene expression assay for assessing long-term risk of prostate cancer progression; and a system for faecal incontinence have come under the spotlight in newly-published NICE briefings.
NICE Medtech Innovation Briefings aim to support NHS and social care commissioners and staff who are considering using new medical devices and other medical or diagnostic technologies. The information provided includes a description of the technology, how it’s used. and its potential role in the treatment pathway.
NICE Medtech Innovation Briefings also include a review of relevant published evidence and the likely costs of using the technology, but they are not NICE guidance and do not make any recommendations on the value of using the technologies. Whether or not to use the products described is entirely the choice of local staff.
However, the briefings will help avoid the need for organisations to produce similar information, so saving staff time, effort and resources.
The latest Medtech Innovation Briefings to be published are:
- CareLink network service for remote monitoring of people with cardiac devices (Medtronic): This is a remote monitoring system for people with a Medtronic implantable cardiac device. The service uses the MyCareLink monitor or MyCareLink Smart to collect data remotely from the device. This is then transferred to the patient’s clinician through the CareLink network with the aim of reducing the need for face-to-face follow up visits. Evidence from prospective studies suggests that the CareLink network service decreases the time from the detection of a clinical event to a clinical decision, and decreases the number of emergency visits and healthcare use in people with heart failure when compared with standard face-to-face follow up. The CareLink network service also showed a lower number of false negatives when compared with other home monitoring devices and had 100% event notification
- Prolaris gene expression assay for assessing long-term risk of prostate cancer progression (Myriad Genetic Laboratories): Prolaris is an in vitro diagnostic test which measures gene expression levels in RNA extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) prostate tumour samples, taken from needle biopsies or prostatectomy specimens. From this information, it generates a Prolaris score, which is designed to predict either the patient's 10-year risk of mortality using prostate biopsy samples or the 10-year risk of biochemical recurrence using prostatectomy specimens. Prolaris would be used to help make decisions about treatment for low or intermediate-risk localised prostate cancer in people who are being considered for active surveillance or radical treatment, to estimate the risk of mortality before surgery or the risk of biochemical recurrence after prostatectomy
- Secca System for faecal incontinence (Mederi Therapeutics):The Secca System delivers temperature-controlled thermal energy, generated by an RF source, into the internal anal sphincter muscle from a probe placed in the anal canal. The Secca System consists of a reusable, pole-mounted 4 channel RF generator and a sterile, single-use RF delivery handpiece. A single-use, gel-type patient return electrode completes the RF circuit. Secca Therapy is a minimally-invasive treatment option available for people with incontinence of solid or liquid stool at least once a week, in whom conservative management options have not controlled symptoms
- LATITUDE NXT Patient Management System for monitoring cardiac devices at home (Boston Scientific): The LATITUDE NXT Patient Management System is designed to communicate remotely with a compatible Boston Scientific implanted cardiac device and transfer information to a central database where it can be accessed by authorised clinicians. It collects and sends data from a person's implanted Boston Scientific implanted cardiac device to the secure central database for clinicians to access. It is intended to reduce the frequency of routine hospital device clinic appointments and also issues alerts to give an early warning of a clinical event or device issue
NICE Medtech Innovation Briefings are commissioned by NHS England and produced in support of the NHS 5 Year Forward View, specifically as one of a number of steps that will accelerate innovation in new treatments and diagnostics.