In April, we feature Oscor Inc. in our company profile. Oscor designs, develops, manufactures and markets a variety of highly specialized permanent and temporary pacing lead systems; it is located in Palm Harbor, Florida. Their new Physique active fixation pacing lead recently received FDA approval. This lead is the second of Oscor's next generation, low-profile permanent pacing leads, and has a body diameter of only 4.8 French and a lead tip size of 7 French. Oscor sells its products in more than 25 countries outside the U.S. and also sells many of its lead products to leading medical device companies on an Original Equipment Manufacturer basis. Read what the future brings for this innovative company.

J. Lazar, MD, S. Manzella, ANP, J. Moonjelly, MD, E. Wirkowski, MD, T.J. Cohen, MD
In this case report, the authors discuss QT dispersion (QTD), which reflects heterogeneity of myocardial repolarization, and is modulated by the central nervous system. They state that previous studies have shown increased QTD to be a predictor of adverse outcomes in various cardiac states. Their objective was to determine the significance of QTD in patients hospitalized with cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) and transient ischemic accidents (TIA). They studied 140 consecutive patients admitted to their institution with neurologic events from January to April 1998. QTD was found to be higher in patients with intercerebral hemorrhage as compared to CVA and TIA. QTD was also higher in patients with congestive heart failure and with carotid disease, as compared to those without. QTD was an independent predictor of functional outcome and mortality following acute neurological events. The authors found that in this setting, QTD reflects neurological injury as well as underlying heart disease.