S H Hohnloser

..This substudy will determine if atrial electrical remodeling is detectable in pacemaker patients and if it is associated with the development of AF...

..Apixaban, a novel oral anticoagulant with partial renal excretion, was compared with warfarin and reduced the rate stroke, death and bleeding in the ARISTOTLE trial. We evaluated these outcomes in relation to renal function...

..Pacing algorithms to prevent atrial fibrillation (AF) have been tested in studies of modest size and duration with inconclusive results...

..There were numerically more myocardial infarcts in dabigatran-treated patients than in warfarin patients; however, other myocardial ischaemic events were similar in the three treatment arms...

..There is a modest risk of myocardial infarction (MI) and myocardial ischemic events in patients with atrial fibrillation...

..There is a continued need for new antiarrhythmic drugs to treat the ever-increasing number of patients with this arrhythmia. Dronedarone is a new antiarrhythmic compound currently being developed for treatment of AF...

..The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence, features, and clinical sequelae of 'electrical storm' (ES)...

..The effects of these drugs on defibrillation energy requirements have not been previously assessed in a randomized controlled trial...

..In addition, several studies have shown that combination therapy with beta-blockers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators have synergistic effects that optimize the benefits of both therapies...

..Whether benefit occurs in patients early after myocardial infarction is unknown...

..The goal of the present study was to assess the efficacy and safety of intravenous tedisamil, a new antiarrhythmic compound, for conversion of recent-onset atrial fibrillation (AF) or atrial flutter (AFL) to normal sinus rhythm (NSR)...

..The ACTIVE program began patient enrollment in spring 2003...

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..The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence, characteristics and the predictive value of nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) for subsequent death and arrhythmic events after acute myocardial infarction (AMI)...

..CONCLUSIONS: DINAMIT is the first prospective study to evaluate the benefit of ICD therapy for the primary prevention of sudden cardiac death in patients at high risk after acute myocardial infarction...

..Restoration and maintenance of sinus rhythm is believed by many physicians to be superior to rate control only. However, there are no prospective data that compare both therapeutic strategies...

..However, the drug was associated with increased mortality in patients with recently decompensated heart failure. Hence, antiarrhythmic drug therapy has to be evaluated in patients with AF on an individual patients basis...

..The present study aimed to analyse in detail the effects of dronedarone on mortality and morbidity in AF patients CHF...

..Dronedarone is a new antiarrhythmic drug that is being developed for the treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation...

..In some recent studies involving primary prevention patients with prophylactically implanted cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), MTWA has not performed as well...

..Our goal was to determine the risk of stroke or non-cerebral embolism associated with paroxysmal compared with sustained atrial fibrillation (AF)...

..This applies particularly for beta-blocker therapy...

..The presence of a septal Q wave could be used to exclude minimal preexcitation with a high degree of reliability in both patients and controls before and after radiofrequency ablation...

..0001). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of patients with a history of AF show not only disorganized but also highly organized AT episodes, which can be successfully terminated by ATP...

..Preventive pacing and atrial ATP algorithms represent two new functions that can be implemented safely into pacemaker systems for nonpharmacologic treatment of ATs in patients requiring pacemaker therapy...

..The purpose of this study was to assess prospectively the use of concealed entrainment (CE) in mapping of AF and to assess the clinical benefit of ablation of clinically relevant atypical AF...

..The study was done to determine whether variables of QT dispersion from the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) are dependent on heart rate...

..Due to the VT/SVT discrimination algorithm, atrial sensing errors only led to misclassification in 4 % of all episodes, mainly due to atrial undersensing. No VT underdetection due to atrial oversensing occurred...

..We hypothesized that patients with slow VTs (<200 bpm) may benefit from a long TDI and a dual-chamber detection algorithm compared with a conventionally programmed single-chamber ICD...

..6% among the remaining patients. Testing of T-wave alternans seems to identify patients who are at low risk of ventricular tachyarrhythmic event and who may not benefit from defibrillator therapy...

..However, there is a significant risk of development of delayed atrioventricular block, particularly when the procedure results in total elimination of the slow pathway...

..e., pharmacological stimulation) in an attempt to reduce the proportion of incomplete tests in patients with insufficient increase in heart rate during exercise testing...

..2, P = .02), and HR assessed from the standard 12-lead ECG ( chi2 7.1, P = .008) as independent risk parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Bedside risk stratification of survivors of AMI is feasible using simple parameters such as age, LVEF, and HR...

..Evaluation of cause-specific mortality in a large cohort of unselected implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) recipients...

..The purpose of this study was to compare the mechanisms by which pacing terminates VT at left ventricular (LV) sites with and without concealed entrainment (CE) in patients with prior myocardial infarction...

..Only in patients with documented efficacy of morphology discrimination should this feature be subsequently activated...

..This case shows that torsade de pointes may occur as a rare manifestation of viral myocarditis. Serial serological tests and endomyocardial biopsies may be helpful in establishing a diagnosis in such patients...

..This exciting field of investigation may lead to significant improvements in therapeutic options for AF patients...

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..However, their clinical efficacy and optimal patient selection remain to be evaluated in prospective, well-designed clinical trials...

..This article summarizes relevant aspects of the cellular electrophysiology of AF and reviews the actions of pharmacological agents presently available or in development as novel anti-arrhythmic therapy...

..This report demonstrates the feasibility of totally endoscopic direct placement of an epicardial stimulation lead on the left ventricle using the daVinci surgical system...

..This prospective study evaluated the safety and efficacy of ECV comparing mono- to biphasic shock waveforms in patients with implanted rhythm devices...

..These observations emphasize the need for prospective studies evaluating optimal therapeutic approaches for patients with AMI complicated by AF...

..There is convincing evidence that ICD benefit in coronary patients accrues after a considerable time having elapsed from the most recent infarct, presumably at least 6 months or perhaps longer...

..5 expression, and shows a pharmacological profile typical of K(v)1.5-dependent currents...

..This review summarizes the rationale and results of PIAF in an attempt to update and discuss the clinical relevance of these findings in the light of the other studies and with regard to individual treatment options...

..Atrial-selective drug therapy represents a novel therapeutic approach for atrial fibrillation management. The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanism of hKv1.5 channel inhibition by the atrial-selective compound AVE1231...

..Accordingly, it is unknown whether biventricular (BiV) pacing might influence MTWA test results...

..It also mentions favorable interventions on the milieu in terms of conventional (such as antifibrotic effects of angiotensin-system antagonism) and innovative gene-therapy approaches that might add to future AF therapeutic options...

..One future research avenue concerns the more detailed analysis of changes in cardiac autonomic tone preceding the occurrence of sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias which can be assessed from the electrogram storage of the ICD...

..In summary, the development of novel treatment strategies for AF is highly dynamic and productive. Years to come will likely witness significant changes in perspective and prognosis of affected patients...

..CONCLUSION: Automatic overdrive pacing after AT termination did not prevent IRAT, mainly due to insufficient overdrive suppression even at 120 beats/min and the delay between AT termination and PMOP intervention...

..CONCLUSION: Pacing seems to be able to suppress ATs in a minority of patients; however, prospective identification of responders to different pacing modalities does not appear to be feasible at the present time...

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..Noninvasive arrhythmia risk stratification in patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) using autonomic markers have yielded disappointing results. Heart rate turbulence is a new method to assess cardiac autonomic function...

..It is less clear whether this includes patients with pre-existing right ventricular pacemaker/defibrillator systems, particularly with respect to implantation success and clinical benefit...

..Thus, selected patients with persistent AF may benefit from preventive atrial pacing since the tachyarrhythmia can organize intermittently to a degree sufficient for pace termination...

..CONCLUSION: A prolonged HV interval during SR is not a prerequisite for BBRT. Functional His-Purkinje system abnormalities appear to be the electrophysiologic substrate for this specific type of BBRT...

..This paper summarizes the rationale, design and specific contributions of the Defibrillator in Myocardial infarction trial (DINAMIT) in comparison to other relevant studies on primary prevention of sudden cardiac death...

..The article summarizes available clinical studies and reviews some experimental data examining the treatment effects of antiadrenergic therapy in AF...

..This prospective study evaluated QoL in patients with symptomatic persistent AF randomized to therapy aiming at rate versus rhythm control...

..CONCLUSION: Patients with nonischemic cardiomyopathy and patients with tachyarrhythmic complications have more extensive MTWA possibly reflecting more extensive myocardial damage and a higher arrhythmia propensity...

..Accordingly, cost effectiveness of risk stratification and subsequent preventive therapy may be improved by restricting risk stratification to patients with impaired LV function...

..In conclusion, IRAT is frequent after spontaneous restoration of SR. Changes of atrial electrophysiological properties promoting IRAT may already develop during AT of short duration...

..SUMMARY: Taken together, these trials allow an evidence-based approach to primary prevention of sudden cardiac death in patients with both ischemic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy...

..A rapid diagnostic evaluation has to be initiated to rule out a myocardial infarction and to diagnose intracranial hemorrhage before the use of thrombolytic or anticoagulant therapy...

..Dual-chamber devices therefore have to be programmed accordingly, activating dedicated reactions after ventricular premature beats and automatic ELT detection and termination algorithms...

..Radiofrequency catheter ablation of isthmus dependent atrial flutter is considered the therapy of choice. There is, however, controversy with regard to the thrombogenicity of atrial flutter in comparison with atrial fibrillation...

..Of particular note, AF relapses >48 h remained totally asymptomatic in a significant proportion of patients. Freedom from AF for > or =3 months did not preclude subsequent long-lasting AF recurrence...

..The role of MTWA testing in patients with LQTS has not been established. Objective: To determine the diagnostic value of MTWA testing in high-risk patients with LQTS...

..To describe the electrophysiological profile and the clinical portfolio of dronedarone, a new multichannel-blocking antiarrhythmic drug developed for the treatment of atrial fibrillation...

..In other populations, such as postinfarction patients, patients with congestive heart failure or patients with ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation, determination of QT dispersion is probably not of clinical value...

..VPB originating from the Purkinje system may be one possibility for VF initiation in patients with structural heart disease. Eliminating these sources of VPBs by catheter ablation can prevent recurrent VF in such patients...

..There are only sparse data concerning individual coronary side branch (CS-SB) anatomy with respect to LV lead implantation for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT)...

..The incidence of hardware-related complications in single (SC)-, dual (DC)-, and triple (BiV)-chamber devices requiring surgical revision has not been investigated systematically...

..As this technology becomes more widely available, physicians will be called upon to interpret microvolt TWA tracings. This review seeks to establish uniform standards for the clinical interpretation of microvolt TWA tracings...

..This study was designed to determine the most appropriate dose of dronedarone for prevention of atrial fibrillation (AF) after cardioversion...

..The four randomized trials clearly demonstrate that continuous anticoagulation is mandatory in all patients with atrial fibrillation and risk factors for stroke, irrespective of the initial therapeutic approach of rhythm or rate control...

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..In response, patients with a low ejection fraction who are being considered for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy should undergo MTWA testing as part of their evaluation...

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..Dronedarone is a new antiarrhythmic agent pharmacologically related to amiodarone but developed to reduce the risk of side effects...

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..The primary efficacy end points are time to all-cause shocks and time to all-cause shocks plus symptomatic ventricular arrhythmic events triggering antitachycardia pacing measured from randomization...

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..However, because OAC carries important bleeding complications, risk stratification schemes have been devised to identify patients for whom the absolute benefits of OAC exceed its risks...