A new type of wireless monitor cut hospitalizations in half and also significantly reduced the risk of death in heart failure patients, a new study shows.

Heart failure affects some five million Americans and is a frequent cause of repeat hospitalization and death.

The long-term study was done at Ohio State University’s Richard M. Ross Hospital, which was the first hospital in the nation to implant the device. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the paper clip-sized monitor last year. 

The long-term study involved 347 patients, all whom had moderate heart failure, and were implanted with the monitor when the study began. The device is implanted on the pulmonary artery and transmits real-time blood pressure readings to a secure website where the doctor can review them, the researchers said.

For the first 18 months, doctors treating the control group did not receive pulmonary artery pressure readings and provided standard care based on signs and symptoms of worsening heart failure.

Then for an additional 13 months, the doctors had access to the sensor readings and made care decisions based on pulmonary artery pressure readings. That’s when hospitalizations in the control group dropped by 48 percent. Those receiving treatment for the entire 31 months of follow-up also saw a 33 percent reduction in hospitalizations.

The patients also had a significantly reduced the risk of death, the researchers said of the study, which is published in The Lancet.