As the end of the year approaches, many more responses have started to pile in. If you would like to respond to these questions, please email us at eplabdigest@hotmail.com or go to www.eplabdigest.com and click on the email discussion group link. Our website is constantly being updated, so please check back often. We look forward to hearing from you!

When it comes to rhythm disorders, many times what is going on in the ventricle has more to do with what’s going on in the atrium than any ventricular problem. For example, if you know a patient has an intrinsic ventricular rate of 150 beats per minute (bpm), it’s impossible for us to name the arrhythmia until we see an ECG.

The annual meeting of the South Atlantic Society of Electrophysiology for Allied Professionals (SASEAP) took place from September 16–18, 2005. Included in this issue is the first installment of some of the presentations given at the workshop. Please note that these are summaries of the presentations given at this year’s meeting. Keep posted for more speaker presentations, which will we will publish in an upcoming issue. Next year’s SASEAP meeting will take place from September 29 to October 1, 2006.

In this new section, I wanted to highlight those in the medical field who have gone above and beyond. However, this time it will be coming from the people who deal with medical personnel on a first-hand basis: the patients. In every installment of this section, we will get a patient’s point of view of who they think is the best EP doctor or allied professional.

Sudden cardiac arrest accounts for about 300,000 deaths each year in the United States. Several randomized control trials have established the efficacy of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) for primary as well as secondary prophylaxis against sudden cardiac death. Based on these studies, the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved the implantation of ICDs among patients who are at high risk of sudden cardiac death.

The Centers for Disease Control estimate that hospital-related infections are now the fifth leading cause of death in the United States. Especially susceptible to these hospital-related infections are patients treated with percutaneous and indwelling medical devices. What can your lab do to prevent these types of infections? An antimicrobial silver surface treatment such as SilvaGard™ may be your best option. SilvaGard prevents infections by preventing bacteria from colonizing on the surfaces of medical devices. Commonly used at-risk percutaneous devices include central venous (CV) lines, vascular access devices, peripheral lines, intravenous sites, and drug delivery catheters. We spoke with Dr. Bruce Gibbins to find out more about how the technology works.

This month we speak with two of the pediatric cardiologists at Children’s Sibley Heart Center, which was recently ranked as one of the top five pediatric cardiology programs in the country by Child magazine. In addition, Children’s was also ranked as one of 2005’s top 10 children’s hospitals.