Last year, the FDA approved a micro-sensor designed to be implanted right next to a person’s heart, directly into their pulmonary artery. This sensor, coined CardioMEMS by it’s developers at St. Jude Medical, can monitor cardiac and other vital signs in real time, and then transmit the data to a computer at regular intervals each day.

The microchip requires no battery source and has no interchangeable parts. Information collected from the device is sent to the patient’s doctors daily. If the receiving cardiologist notices anything amiss, action can be taken immediately, rather than after a problem is discovered at the patient’s next office or hospital visit.

Click here for an in-depth article from EuroNews about this innovation.