Boston Scientific Minute Ventilation Sensor

Hi! Im due for a battery replacement this year. Im a runner and in addition to SSS I experience chronotropic incompetence and as a result have had to have a lot of adjustments to the rate responder in my PM. I was advised to look into changing from my St Joe's device to the Boston Scientific Minute Ventilation Sensor becuase apparently it is the preferred PM for runners. Does anyone have experience with one of these devices?

Thank you!

2 Comments

Can't say I agree...

by crustyg - 2023-02-23 06:21:58

I used to be a fairly serious runner, still run occasionally.  The accelerometer in any modern PM should give really good rate response support for anyone with SSS+CI.  My own experience with BostonSci Accolade is that the factory default accel settings were easily enough to get me to maxHR within 100m of setting off - far faster than MV can possibly work.  But perhaps my running style isn't very smooth and my up/down movement is 'excessive.'

Road cycling: now that's a real challenge for anyone with CI (there's really no upper body movement to activate the accel) so MV is one of the only solutions.  IMHO BostonSci's MV is the best and most reliable PM tech (when properly tuned) for road cycling, but it's far from perfect.  Yes, I know that other vendors claim to have this fixed but contributions here suggest that their approaches have real problems.  BostonSci's MV (bought in from Guidant, a Belgian company where there are very many road cyclists) does seem to be reproducible and reliable.  But not perfect.

Where I live, BostonSci do a really good job of supporting the EP-docs, so don't let my caution put you off a BostonSci unit.  Watch out for MRI issues later, as imaging departments really don't like mixed-vendor installations - leads from <x>, PM box from <y>.  Can be overcome but it's a struggle.

Hope that helps.

maybe?

by Tracey_E - 2023-02-24 08:19:49

I know someone who had Boston and switched to Medtronic, not because it was the better device but because she lives in a rural area and there was no one local good at programming it. There were lots of Medronic reps, but only one very mediocre Boston rep. You want the one your doctor knows inside and out. If that's Boston, go for it. 

That said, MV is better for cycling and swimming. Any of them should work well for running. 

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