St. Jude Medical for Medical Professionals

Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation continued to be the theme of greatest interest at the tenth anniversary meeting of the annual Boston Atrial Fibrillation Symposium, held on January 14–15, 2005. The following is a synopsis of key issues discussed at the symposium.

Intracardiac delay optimization of biventricular and dual-chamber pacing devices currently relies on time-consuming echocardiographic measurements. A novel intracardiac electrogram (IEGM) method for atrioventricular (AV/PV) and interventricular (VV) delay optimization was developed, which can be performed during routine device follow-up.

The purpose of this study was to determine prospectively the effect of chronic amiodarone therapy on the defibrillation energy requirement in patients with an implantable defibrillator.

This review will examine the PFO in detail: its role in the fetal circulation, the formation of the atrial septum, the disease processes felt to be associated with it and their probable mechanisms, current closure techniques, and upcoming trials of these techniques.

Article discussing methods of lowering DFTs patients with high DFTs, including doing so without the need for implanting additional hardware.