AimsTo collect information on the use of the Reveal implantable loop recorder (ILR) in the patient care pathway and to investigate its effectiveness in the diagnosis of unexplained recurrent syncope in everyday clinical practice.Methods and resultsProspective, multicentre, observational study conducted in 2006–2009 in 10 European countries and Israel. Eligible patients had recurrent unexplained syncope or pre-syncope. Subjects received a Reveal Plus, DX or XT. Follow up was until the first recurrence of a syncopal event leading to a diagnosis or for ≥1 year. In the course of the study, patients were evaluated by an average of three different specialists for management of their syncope and underwent a median of 13 tests (range 9–20). Significant physical trauma had been experienced in association with a syncopal episode by 36% of patients. Average follow-up time after ILR implant was 10 ± 6 months. Follow-up visit data were available for 570 subjects. The percentages of patients with recurrence of syncope were 19, 26, and 36% after 3, 6, and 12 months, respectively. Of 218 events within the study, ILR-guided diagnosis was obtained in 170 cases (78%), of which 128 (75%) were cardiac.ConclusionA large number of diagnostic tests were undertaken in patients with unexplained syncope without providing conclusive data. In contrast, the ILR revealed or contributed to establishing the mechanism of syncope in the vast majority of patients. The findings support the recommendation in current guidelines that an ILR should be implanted early rather than late in the evaluation of unexplained syncope.

The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701).

Owing to a higher primary ablation success rate and reduced incidence of char/coagulum formation, gold may be preferred over Pt-Ir as electrode material for 8 mm tip catheters for CTI ablation. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00326001 (http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00326001).

For evaluation of patients with an increased risk of sudden cardiac death, the analyses of ventricular late potentials, heart rate variability, and baroreflexsensitivity are helpful. But so far, the prediction of a malignant arrhythmic event is not possible with sufficient accuracy. For a better risk stratification other methods are necessary. In this study the importance of the ChRS for the identification of patients at risk for ventricular tachyarrhythmic events should be investigated. Of 41 patients included in the study, 26 were survivors of sudden cardiac arrest. Fifteen patients were not resuscitated, of whom 6 patients had documented monomorphic ventricular tachycardia and 9 had no ventricular tachyarrhythmias in their prior history. All patients had a history of an old myocardial infarction (> 1 year ago). For determination of the ChRS the ratio between the difference of the RR intervals in the ECG and the venous pO2 before and after a 5-minute oxygen inhalation via a nose mask was measured (ms/mmHg). The 26 patients with survived sudden cardiac death showed a significantly decreased ChRS compared to those patients without a tachyarrhythmic event (1.74 +/- 1.02 vs 6.97 +/- 7.14 ms/mmHg, P < 0.0001). The sensitivity concerning a survived sudden cardiac death amounted to 88% for a ChRS below 3.0 ms/mmHg. During a 12-month follow-up period, the ChRS was significantly different between patients with and without an arrhythmic event (1.64 +/- 1.06 vs 4.82 +/- 5.83 ms/mmHg, P < 0.01). As a further method for evaluation of patients with increased risk of sudden cardiac death after myocardial infarction the analysis of ChRS seems to be suitable and predicts arrhythmias possibly more sensitive than other tests of neurovegetative imbalance. The predictive importance has to be examined by prospective investigations in larger patient populations.

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