The American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association and the Heart Rhythm Society Release Updated Cardiac Device-Based Therapy ...( New guidelines offer revised indi...),Health

New guidelines offer revised indications for the use of pacemakers, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices

SAN FRANCISCO, May 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American College of Cardiology (ACC), American Heart Association (AHA) and the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) have jointly released updated cardiac device-based therapy guidelines. The ACC/AHA/HRS 2008 Guidelines for Device-Based Therapy of Cardiac Rhythm Abnormalities are the first guidelines that combine indications for all cardiac implantable electronic devices and were released today during Heart Rhythm 2008, the Heart Rhythm Society's 29th Annual Scientific Sessions.

An estimated 180,000 pacemaker devices and 91,000 implantable defibrillators were implanted in the U.S. in 2005 (1). The ability to diagnose and treat patients, and manage their devices has greatly improved in recent years. ACC, AHA and the HRS (formerly NASPE) created a committee of physicians who are expert in the areas of device therapy, cardiovascular care, internal medicine, cardiovascular surgery, ethics and socioeconomics to update device-based therapy guidelines, previously called ACC/AHA/NASPE 2002 Guideline Update for Implantation of Cardiac Pacemakers and Antiarrhythmia Devices. With the overall goal of improving patient care, the updated guidelines incorporate data from recent clinical trials and the most significant advances in pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy.

"The updated guidelines are a product of expert analysis of recent studies that have advanced our knowledge of cardiac arrhythmias as well as major advances in device technology," said writing committee chair Andrew Epstein, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "The guidelines take a patient-centered approach and will help physicians determine the most effective treatment options available for each individual patient." '/>"/>