EHRA, Cardiostim Joint Meeting Set for Vienna

The joint meeting of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), a registered branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), and Cardiostim will take place from June 18 to 21 at Reed Messe Wien GmbH.

The congress is dedicated to arrhythmias, electrophysiology and device therapies. International experts will discuss holographic cardiac imaging, a second generation wireless pacemaker, a wearable electrocardiogram sensor to monitor arrhythmias, endoscopic ablation of atrial fibrillation, smaller devices and new implantation strategies for implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy, innovative implants for heart failure patients including spinal cord neuromodulation and more.

A crash course for inventors will also be held and winners of the EHRA Inventor Award and Cardiostim Innovation Award will be announced. Leaders from the EHRA Innovation Forum will give the most up-to-date information on the future potential of genetics, pharmacological therapies, precision medicine and computer modelling in cardiac arrhythmias.

EHRA will launch scientific documents on screening for atrial fibrillation, management of arrhythmias in patients with hypertension, radiation exposure of female electrophysiologists during pregnancy, management of arrhythmias in patients with grown-up congenital heart disease, antithrombotic therapy in valvular atrial fibrillation, and device detected subclinical atrial tachyarrhythmias.

Controversial issues will be debated including whether all sports should be forbidden in the asymptomatic athlete with an abnormal electrocardiogram. Other contentious statements to be discussed include 'Remote device monitoring does not improve outcome', 'Left atrial appendage occlusion does not reduce ischaemic stroke' and 'Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants should not be interrupted for atrial fibrillation ablation'.

More than 5,000 healthcare professionals from over 100 countries are set to attend the four-day event, which features more than 140 scientific sessions and presentations by more than 450 experts from across the globe. Fifteen hundred abstracts with original scientific research have been submitted.