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<p>PLYMOUTH &#8212; During the first week in July, William and Johanna Lambert of Plymouth received a phone call from the office of William&#8217;s cardiologist, Dr. Michael Rupp.</p><p>&#8220;Dr. Rupp&#8217;s nurse said, &#8216;Were you at a kielbasa fest, or what?&#8217; &#8221; Johanna Lambert recalled.</p><p>Now, the popular Plymouth Kielbasa Fest, with all its opportunities for blowing a diet, won&#8217;t take place until August, but as William Lambert reminded his wife, &#8220;We had a feast for the Fourth of July.&#8221;</p><p>The homemade pierogies, the &#8220;chicken bites&#8221; and various treats from the grill had been delicious, the couple said, but the large meal was probably the reason William Lambert&#8217;s cardiopulmonary pressure was elevated.</p><p>Thanks to a dime-size monitoring sensor Rupp had implanted into William Lambert&#8217;s pulmonary artery in June at Commonwealth Health Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, the doctor&#8217;s office had been alerted to the pressure increase and was able to advise the patient to adjust his medication.</p><p>Without that intervention, Johanna Lambert said, her husband&#8217;s pressure likely would have continued to build and &#8220;in a couple days I would have been calling an ambulance.&#8221;</p><p>The tiny device Rupp implanted into Lambert&#8217;s pulmonary artery is called a CardioMEMS. It&#8217;s manufactured by St. Jude Medical, which is based in St. Paul, Minnesota, and it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for commercial use in the United States in 2014.</p><p>The device is specifically designed for individuals with Class III heart disease, Rupp explained in a telephone interview. &#8220;These are for people who have weak hearts. They&#8217;re on a lot of medications, they have a history of hospital admissions, but they&#8217;re trying to lead normal lives.&#8221;</p><p>Aided by the device, he said, &#8220;They don&#8217;t have to live in fear of being admitted to the hospital all the time.&#8221;</p><p>To implant the sensor, Rupp said, he gains access to a vein in the patient&#8217;s leg and advances the device &#8220;like a heart catheter, up into the main artery of the lung.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;The sensor is about as thick as a dime and about as wide, with little wires that hold it in place. It&#8217;s a computer chip that has a rechargeable battery inside of it that measures pressure and is able to transmit it to a very sensitive monitor. The monitor sends the information to doctors and nurses,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It seems to be revolutionary for these marginal heart-failure patients.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t even know it&#8217;s in there,&#8221; William Lambert said on Monday, shortly before he pressed a button to activate the monitor and reclined on a pillow while his pressure reading was transmitted to the doctor&#8217;s office.</p><p>Lambert, 63, does that every morning, and would repeat the procedure any time of day if he didn&#8217;t feel well.</p><p>&#8220;I never thought it would happen to me,&#8221; he said of his heart problems, explaining he used to be active with softball and running. But 18 years ago he needed open-heart surgery for five bypasses, and eight years ago he had to give up his job as a custodian in the Wyoming Valley West School District.</p><p>William Lambert has diabetes, too, which has affected his sight. But he is able to enjoy dips in his backyard pool, and spending time with his grandchildren, Zoe, who lives with the Lamberts, and E.J. and Will Kupstas, who live nearby.</p><p>&#8220;We have so much to celebrate,&#8221; Johanna Lambert said. &#8220;For us, every day is a celebration.&#8221;</p><p>The couple is pleased that the CardioMEMS is designed to help patients stay out of the hospital &#8212; because William Lambert has had numerous hospitalizations in recent years &#8212; and they&#8217;re grateful to Rupp for recognizing that it could help him.</p><p>&#8220;If Dr. Rupp says he&#8217;s a good candidate, he&#8217;s a good candidate,&#8221; Johanna Lambert said. &#8220;When I told him Dr. Rupp recommended it and it had just been FDA approved, he was like, &#8216;I&#8217;m in.&#8217; &#8220;</p><p>&#8220;Multiple doctors here are doing it or getting ready to do it,&#8221; Rupp said of using the CardioMEMS. &#8220;The hospital is very supportive of this.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">William Lambert, 63, lies down as his pulmonary artery pressure is measured with the CardioMEMS heart failure system at his home in Plymouth. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_cardio12.jpg</photo0><caption0>William Lambert, 63, lies down as his pulmonary artery pressure is measured with the CardioMEMS heart failure system at his home in Plymouth. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_cardio22.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The St. Jude Medical CardioMEMS Heart Failure system is on a table near William Lambert&#8217;s bed. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_cardio22.jpg</photo1><caption1>The St. Jude Medical CardioMEMS Heart Failure system is on a table near William Lambert&#8217;s bed. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_cardio32.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">William Lambert, left, and his wife, Johanna, talk about living with his heart condition. They appreciate every day, they said, especially time spent with their two daughters and three grandchildren. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_cardio32.jpg</photo2><caption2>William Lambert, left, and his wife, Johanna, talk about living with his heart condition. They appreciate every day, they said, especially time spent with their two daughters and three grandchildren. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_cardio42.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Johanna and William Lambert of Plymouth sit on a bed in their Plymouth home. On the wall behind them is some artwork created by their granddaughter, Zoe. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_cardio42.jpg</photo3><caption3>Johanna and William Lambert of Plymouth sit on a bed in their Plymouth home. On the wall behind them is some artwork created by their granddaughter, Zoe. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_Michael-Rupp2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dr. Michael Rupp </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_Michael-Rupp2.jpg</photo4><caption4>Dr. Michael Rupp </caption4><photoCredit4>Submitted photo </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Device measures pulmonary artery pressure</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>CLASS III HEART FAILURE</strong></p><p>Among the four classes of heart failure, Class III is the third most serious.</p><p>According to the American Heart Association, Class III is characterized by marked limitation of physical activity. The patient is comfortable at rest, but less than ordinary activity causes fatigue, palpitation or shortness of breath. In Class IV, a patient is unable to carry on any physical activity without discomfort.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Pressure sensor can decrease need for hospitalization in heart-failure patients