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Enrolment continues enthusiastically for the recently launched FIRE AND ICE trial. This is a multinational clinical trial comparing the long-term safety, effectiveness and ease of use of the Medtronic Arctic Front® Cardiac CryoAblation System compared to the Biosense Webster CARTO® System Guided THERMOCOOL® Catheter to treat patients with symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

There continues to be a widespread lack of confidence in electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation within primary care, according to a survey of 119 GP practices within the North of England Cardiovascular Network area. The authors of this article,¹ published recently in the British Journal of Cardiology, point to a lack of formalised training and assessment in recording and interpreting the ECG, suggesting that local solutions must be found for this…

Patients who suffer from fainting due to a neurocardiogenic syncope have fewer fainting occurrences when treated with a pacemaker, according to results from the randomised ISSUE-3 study (International Study on Syncope of Uncertain Etiology 3) announced recently.

Dr Nicola Smart has been named the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) first Fellow of the Year, in recognition of her heart research throughout 2011. Dr Smart has been working under BHF Professor Paul Riley¹ on the potential for repairing heart tissue damaged by myocardial infarction (MI).

To counter the increasing fault-rates expected in the next technology generations, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology’s (Gothenburg, Sweden) on-Demand System Reliability (DeSyRe) project (www.desyre.eu) are developing new design techniques for future Systems-on-Chips to improve reliability and performance.

Stroke survivors who like art have a significantly higher quality of life than those who do not, according to new research¹ presented recently at the 12th Annual Spring Meeting on Cardiovascular Nursing (Copenhagen, Denmark). Patients who appreciated music, painting and theatre recovered better from their stroke than patients who did not.

The authors review the use of various cardiac imaging methods in their hospital, with the case report of a 77 year old man complaining of fatigue and dyspnoea following revascularisation and pacemaker implantation…

Deep-rooted cultural factors and the rapid improvement in socio-economic conditions are responsible for the high rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the Gulf states, according to sessions on the primary prevention of CVD at the recent Annual Conference of the Saudi Heart Association, which also featured a one-day collaborative programme with the European Society of Cardiology.

Usage of the new oral anticoagulants (NOACs), dabigatran, rivaroxaban, and apixaban, may be associated with lower medical costs (excluding drug costs) relative to warfarin, according to results from the RE-LY, ROCKET-AF, and ARISTOTLE clinical trials. These were presented at the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC’s) 61st Annual Scientific Session, held recently in Chicago.

Recruitment continues for the HARMONY trial (A Study to Evaluate the Effect of Ranolazine and Dronedarone When Given Alone and in Combination in Patients With Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation), a randomised, pacemaker-patient-based trial to examine the efficacy and safety of dronedarone (Multaq,® Sanofi) and ranolazine (Ranexa,® Gilead Sciences) on AF burden.