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The content of these European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines has been published for personal and educational use only. No commercial use is authorized. No part of the ESC Guidelines may be translated or reproduced in any form without written permission from the ESC. Permission can be obtained upon submission of a written request to Oxford University Press, the publisher of the European Heart Journal and the party authorized to handle such permissions on behalf of the ESC. Disclaimer. The ESC Guidelines represent the views of the ESC and were arrived at after careful consideration of the available evidence at the time they were written. Health professionals are encouraged to take them fully into account when exercising their clinical judgement. The guidelines do not, however, override the individual responsibility of health professionals to make appropriate decisions in the circumstances of the individual patients, in consultation with that patient, and where appropriate and necessary the patient's guardian or carer. It is also the health professional's responsibility to verify the rules and regulations applicable to drugs and devices at the time of prescription.

Copies: This document is available on the World Wide Web sites of the American College of Cardiology (www.acc.org), the American Heart Association (www. americanheart.org), and the European Society of Cardiology (www.escardio.org). Single and bulk reprints of both the online full-text guidelines and the published executive summary (published in the August 15, 2006, issues of Circulation and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and the August 16, 2006, issue of the European Heart Journal) are available from Oxford University Press by contacting Special Sales

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UK), Ernst E. van der Wall (Netherlands), Christiaan J.M. Vrints (Belgium).