Background Remote wireless follow‐up of implanted pacemakers (PM) has become an attractive method of follow‐up. Although wireless PM follow‐up has several advantages compared with transtelephonic and office‐based follow‐up, its utility depends on successful transmission. Hypothesis Initial in‐office setup of wireless PM will improve transmission rate as compared with home setup. Methods A total of 202 consecutive patients from 2 medical centers were included in this retrospective study. Patients in the home setup group (N = 101) had traditional home setup of wireless PM, whereas patients in the in‐office group (N = 101) had setup of PMs by allied health professionals during the postoperative office visit. Successful transmission was defined as successful initial wireless transmission of PM data by 2 months postimplant. Results Of the 101 patients in the home setup group, 22 (22%) patients had successful transmission. Of the 101 patients in the in‐office group, 92 (91%) patients had successful transmission (P < 0.0001). Logistic regression analysis showed that that the in‐office group was independently associated with successful transmission (odds ratio: 114.5; 95% confidence interval: 32.1‐408.4; P < 0.0001). Conclusions In patients implanted with PM capable of remote wireless data transmission, initial home setup of the wireless monitoring device was frequently unsuccessful. In‐office PM setup was associated with a significantly higher rate of successful transmission.

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