May 21, 2008 - At the Heart Rhythm 2008 President's Reception on Friday, May 16, outgoing President Bruce Lindsay, M.D., FHRS, passed the gavel to incoming President N.A. Mark Estes, III, M.D., FHRS, in a ceremony where Dr. Estes said he would focus the society's efforts on "three major areas during the next year: strategic planning, education and health policy and advocacy."

May 21, 2008 - St. Jude Medical Inc. released its EnSite System Version 8.0, software designed to intuitively visualize the anatomy of the heart to diagnose and treat abnormal heart rhythms, at Heart Rhythm 2008.

May 21, 2008 - More than half of patients primarily receive information about device recalls from the media and not from their cardiologist, said two studies on patient perspectives on device recalls presented at Heart Rhythm 2008, the Heart Rhythm Society’s 29th Annual Scientific Sessions.

This is despite the fact that nearly 80 percent of patients said they prefer to receive cardiac device recall information directly from their cardiologist, the studies reported.

May 21, 2008 - Physicians can detect and diagnose clinically actionable events earlier in pacemaker patients who utilize remote interrogation compared to those that are followed via routine office visits augmented by transtelephonic monitoring (TTM), according to the PREFER Trial, a late-breaking clinical trial presented at Heart Rhythm 2008, the Heart Rhythm Society’s 29th Annual Scientific Sessions.

May 21, 2008 - Paramedics equipped with pre-hospital ECG devices that wirelessly transmit critical information to emergency rooms while in route to the hospital, can reduce the time it takes to diagnose and treat patients by more than 30 percent, according to a study released at the Heart Rhythm Society's 29th Annual Scientific Sessions.

The study is the first to prospectively evaluate hospital time to treatment and outcomes in individuals randomized to receive a pre-hospital ECG versus the usual method of obtaining an ECG after hospital arrival.