Home › Procedures › CardioMEMS Heart Failure Monitoring
CardioMEMS Heart Failure Monitoring
CardioMEMS is a small sensor placed in the lung artery that lets your care team check your heart pressures from home every day and adjust medicines before heart failure symptoms flare.
What it is
In heart failure, pressure in the heart and lungs often rises days to weeks before swelling, weight gain or shortness of breath appear. The CardioMEMS sensor, about the size of a paper clip, sits in a branch of the pulmonary artery and measures that pressure. Each day you lie on a special pillow for about a minute, and the reading is sent to your care team. If pressures drift up or down, the team can adjust water pills and other medicines early. The sensor has no battery and no wires.
Who it may help
The sensor is for adults with heart failure who have moderate symptoms (NYHA class II or III) and either a heart failure hospital stay in the past year or a raised level of a blood test called natriuretic peptide (BNP or NT-proBNP). You need to be able to take a daily reading at home. Your team also reviews kidney function, body size and other factors.
How it's done
The sensor is placed during a right heart catheterization, usually through a vein at the top of the leg. The doctor measures pressures in the heart and lungs, then releases the sensor into a small branch of the pulmonary artery. The procedure usually takes under an hour with light sedation. Many patients go home the same day or the next day.
Recovery
Care for the puncture site as directed and avoid heavy lifting for a few days. You will usually take a short course of a blood-thinning medicine. Before you leave, the team shows you how to take readings. A nurse or doctor reviews them and calls when a change is needed.
Risks
Possible risks include bleeding or injury to the vein, infection, irregular heartbeat during the procedure, and, rarely, injury to the pulmonary artery or lung, or the sensor moving. Your doctor will review your own risks.
Dr. Smith's experience
Dr. Smith is a CardioMEMS implanting operator and program lead at Baton Rouge General Medical Center, with more than 35 implants since November 2023, the most of any operator at the hospital. In 2026 he became physician lead for the practice's remote pressure-monitoring program, setting enrollment criteria, the pressure-review workflow, and water-pill adjustment with heart failure and referring cardiologists. In our program's 2025 review of 20 patients, heart failure hospitalizations fell 89%, from 2.90 to 0.31 per patient-year. That was a small review of our own patients, not a clinical trial, and individual results vary.
Frequently asked questions
Does the sensor have a battery that needs replacing?
No. The sensor has no battery or wires. It is powered by the reading pillow when you take a reading and is designed to stay in place permanently.
What do I have to do each day?
Lie on the special pillow for about a minute at the same time each day. The reading is sent to your care team automatically.
Will the sensor replace my heart failure medicines?
No. The sensor helps your team fine-tune your medicines. It does not treat heart failure by itself.
Will I feel the sensor?
No. The sensor sits inside the pulmonary artery and is not felt.
Can I have an MRI with a CardioMEMS sensor?
The sensor is labeled MR Conditional, which means MRI can be done under specific conditions. Always tell MRI staff you have it and carry your implant card.
Who looks at my readings?
Your heart failure care team reviews readings and contacts you when a medicine change is needed. Keep calling your doctor about symptoms, and call 911 for emergencies.
Ask about CardioMEMS at Cardiovascular Institute of the South
Dr. Smith sees patients at CIS Baton Rouge, 8401 Picardy Avenue · (225) 308-0247, and CIS Zachary, 6550 Main Street, Suite 1000 · (225) 654-1559. Your primary care doctor or cardiologist can also send a referral.