Heart Rhythm Daily - Day 3, 2008 - (Page 1)

D A I LY HIGHLIGHTS Saturday, May 17 S A T U R D A Y, M A Y 1 7 3 FROM THE INCOMING PRESIDENT 7:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.. . . . . . . . . . . . . Registration Open 8:00 - 9:30 a.m. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scientiﬁc Sessions 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. . . . . . . . . . . . . Exhibit Hall Open 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. . . . . . . . . . . Scientiﬁc Sessions 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ABIM Plans for the Heart Rhythm Society build on recent successes M E M B E R S A N D H E A R T R H Y T H M PRO FE SS I O N A L S: It is my pleasure to be the Heart Rhythm Society President for 2008-2009, and I know that we will build on the tremendous success and growth the Society has experienced in recent years. We will focus our efforts in three major areas during the next year: strategic planning, education, and health policy and advocacy. This will be a pivotal year in the development of the Society and its role in our ﬁeld. As our profession is constantly changing, it is of foremost importance that the Heart Rhythm Society puts measures in place to ensure its mission and activities evolve as the ﬁeld grows. To make certain we are addressing member needs, the Society’s Strategic Planning Task Force has collected a wealth of new data about our profession, and the Heart Rhythm Society will have a Strategic Planning Summit in October. Members and stakeholders from across the ﬁeld will gather to review the ﬁndings and also to examine the mission of the Society and its core values. This Summit will help determine our path for the next ﬁve years and ensure that the Society continues to be a valuable partner and resource for you. Secondly, the organization will continue in our tradition of providing premier educational content at our annual Scientiﬁc Sessions, our board review courses, our Advanced Ablation Course and our new 360° initiatives. As always with the Society, we will be on the lookout for new opportunities to advance the ﬁeld with the highest quality education. The Heart Rhythm Society will also have an intense focus on health policy and advocacy issues. We are assuming a larger responsibility for shaping health policy and advocating for our patients, which is a sign of the maturation of, and increased respect for, our organization. Some of the major initiatives during the past year, such as the See President, page 3 INSIDE President’s Reception . . . . . . . . . 3 The Heart Rhythm Society recognized a new leader and several awards were presented at last night’s event. IBHRE Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The International Board of Heart Rhythm Examiners issued the standardized cardiac pacing exam internationally. SCA 360° . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The second of three long-term initiatives will focus on education and new programs for patients at risk for sudden cardiac arrest. Outgoing Heart Rhythm Society President Bruce Lindsay, MD, FHRS, (right), passes the gavel to Incoming President N.A. Mark Estes III, MD, FHRS. New guidelines for device-based therapy announced The Heart Rhythm Society announced on Thursday the release of new, comprehensive guidelines for device-based therapy. The report was created with the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association and is called the ACC/AHA/HRS 2008 Guidelines for Device-Based Therapy of Cardiac Rhythm Abnormalities. The announcement was made by Richard Page, MD, FHRS, Chair of the Scientiﬁc Sessions Program Committee at a 9:00 a.m. press conference Thursday. “The goal of this document is to improve patient care,” Dr. Page said. “These are the ﬁrst combined guidelines that include not only pacemakers and defibrillators but also CRT devices.” The guidelines update those released in 2002, incorporating recent clinical trials and advances in devices and device-management, as well as new drug therapies. Recommendations in the guidelines are supported with evidence levels A through C, with A denoting those supported by multiple randomized clinical trials. “They are guidelines for therapy and as such have a major impact in terms of third-party payers, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and others,” Dr. Page said. Andrew E. Epstein, MD, FHRS, Chair of the Task Force Writing Committee, noted three major changes to the guidelines: 1. The elevation of primary prevention of sudden cardiac arrest in patients with ischemia from a level IIa to a level I; 2. The clariﬁcation of the ejection fraction for implantation at 35 percent; and of life discussion with patients and their 3. The focus on optimized medical therapy families. “There is a clear discussion of who for patients. should not get devices, and there’s a new “These guidelines are unique in that we section on end-of-life issues,” he said. emphasize not just taking care of rhythm The writing committee included experts problems or heart failure but global car- in the areas of device therapy, cardiovascudiovascular needs of patients,” Dr. Epstein lar care, internal medicine, cardiovascular said. The term “optimized surgery, ethics, and sociomedical therapy” used economics. The executive throughout the guidesummary of the report lines refers to treatment will be published in the beyond devices, such as Journal of the American drug therapies, that may College of Cardiology, Circureduce the need for delation: Journal of the Amervices. ican Heart Association, Dr. Epstein said the and HeartRhythm Jourguidelines also recomnal. The full text can be mend a thorough risk found on the websites of Andrew E. Epstein, MD, FHRS assessment and quality all three associations. http://www.hrsonline.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Heart Rhythm Daily - Day 3, 2008

Contents President's Reception IBHRE Expansion SCA 360 Degrees

Heart Rhythm Daily - Day 3, 2008

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