St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) subsidiary CardioMEMs touted new study results this week showing that its implanted heart monitor is safe and effective in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Researched culled a subset of renal failure patients from the larger population enrolled in the CHAMPION study, concluding that the CardioMEMs HF System helped reduce heart-failure related hospitalizations without hurting kidney function.

The CardioMEMs HF System uses a tiny sensor implanted in the pulmonary artery to directly measure blood pressure, helping doctors monitor for signs of worsening heart failure before symptoms become apparent. The sensor wirelessly sends monitoring data from the sensor to the clinic via a home transmission system, allowing doctors to remotely analyze the patient’s health and tinker with medication or other treatment regimens without a hospital visit.

In an analysis of nearly 300 patients followed for 18 months, researchers reported that remote PA monitoring helped reduce heart-failure-based hospitalizations by more than 40% without adversely affecting renal function.

"Patients who have heart failure often also suffer from chronic kidney disease and the worry is that medical therapies to avoid hospitalization will adversely affect renal function," CHAMPION primary investigator Dr. William Abraham said in prepared remarks. "Our goal in analyzing this group of patients was to demonstrate that monitoring pulmonary artery pressure with the CardioMEMs HF System can reduce hospitalizations without adversely affecting renal function and the data shows this to be true."

CardioMEMs won FDA approval earlier this year for its 1st-of-its-kind implantable heart monitor, spurring St. Jude Medical to exercise its option to acquire the company. The Champion HF system is comprised of a battery-free implant that sits permanently in the pulmonary artery, a catheter-based delivery system and a home communicator that acquires and processes signals from the device and routes data to healthcare providers.