Two main areas covered...
The guidelines cover two main areas: the first includes permanent pacing in bradyarrhythmias, syncope and other specific conditions like hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, while the second refers to ventricular resynchronisation as an adjunct therapy in patients with heart failure.
Together with the guidelines for the management of patients with ventricular arrhythmias and for the prevention of sudden cardiac death published last year, these guidelines provide a well-structured approach to the use of devices for rhythm management.
Specific groups of patients targeted to help electrophysiologists
The section on the indications for resynchronisation is far more detailed than the key indication provided in the guidelines for the management of patients with heart failure, as it addresses several groups of patients that represent a specific problem for the electrophysiologist, such as patients with atrial fibrillation.
As Professor Panagiotis Vardas, chairman of group that wrote these guidelines, points out: “Thanks to important developments in technology, not only patients with sinus node dysfunction and atrioventricular conduction defects can benefit from pacing therapy; today, electrical stimulation has advanced to provide ventricular resynchronisation as an adjunctive therapy for selected patients with heart failure.”