CRT Survey II provides a valuable source of information on contemporary clinical practice with respect to CRT implantation in a large sample of ESC member states. The survey permits assessment of guideline adherence and demonstrates variations in patient selection, management, implantation procedure and follow-up strategy.

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Implantation of an atrial-active fixation lead on the atrial septum is safe and feasible. However, this study showed no significant difference between septal pacing and high atrial pacing, using the endpoints of AF duration and number of AF episodes.

The aim of our study was to verify the effi ciency of catheter ablation of atrial fi brillation (CA AF) according to the "atrial fi brillation (AF) burden"(time spent in AF) and symptoms related to AF. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed a selected set of 133 patients with atrial fi brillation (81% men, 19% women) who underwent an invasive therapy in the form of CA AF and at the same time had an implanted longterm ECG loop recorder (Reveal XT) in a period of eight years. We investigated AF burden and objective symptoms of AF by data obtained from a long-term implantable ECG loop recorder. Subjective symptoms related to AF were identifi ed during outpatient controls. RESULTS: Firstly, our results demonstrate for the fi rst time a clinically relevant increase in the occurrence of asymptomatic episodes of AF after CA AF. Secondly, when analysing AF symptoms and AF burden at the same time, CA AF in terms of reduction of symptoms and shortening the time in AF had a better effect in patients undergoing 1 procedure (CA AF) compared to patients undergoing repeated procedures (re CA AF). CONCLUSION: The increase in the occurrence of asymptomatic episodes of AF is of considerable importance both for the clinical evaluation of ablation effi cacy and for individualized clinical management of patients, especially with respect to antithrombotic therapy (Fig. 10, Ref. 19). Text in PDF www.elis.sk. KEY WORDS:atrial fi brillation, symptoms of atrial fi brillation, atrial fi brillation burden, catheter ablation of atrial fi brillation, continuous ECG monitoring.

Background and Objectives Potential of using the T-peak to T-end (TpTe) interval as an electrocardiographic parameter reflecting the transmural dispersion of ventricular repolarization (TDR) to identify patients (pts.) with higher risk of malignant ventricular arrhythmias (MVA) for better selection of candidates for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) in primary prevention (PP) of sudden cardiac death (SCD) remains controversial. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the TpTe interval in patient’s preimplantation resting 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) and the incidence of MVA resulting in appropriate ICD intervention (AI). The secondary objective was to assess its relationship to overall mortality. Methods A total of 243 consecutive pts. with severe left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction after myocardial infarction (MI) with a single-chamber ICD for PP of SCD from one implantation center were included. Excluded were all pts. with any other disease that could interfere with the indication of ICD implantation. Primarily investigated intervals were measured manually in accordance with accepted methodology. Data on ICD interventions were acquired from device interrogation during regular outpatient visits. Survival data were collected from the databases of health insurance and regulatory authorities. Results We did not find a significant relationship between the duration of the TpTe interval and the incidence of MVA (71.5 ms in pts. with MVA vs. 70 ms in pts. without MVA; p = 0.408). Similar results were obtained for the corrected TpTe interval (TpTec) and the ratio of TpTe to QT interval (76.3 ms vs. 76.5 ms; p = 0.539 and 0.178 vs. 0.181; p = 0.547, respectively). There was also no significant difference between the duration of TpTe, TpTec and TpTe/QT ratio in pts. groups by overall mortality (71.5 ms in the deceased group vs. 70 ms in the survivors group; HR 1.01; 95% CI, 0.99–1.02; p = 0.715, 76.3 ms vs. 76.5 ms; HR 1.01; 95% CI, 0.99–1.02; p = 0.208 and 0.178 vs. 0.186; p = 0.116, respectively). Conclusion This study suggests no significant association of overall or MVA-free survival with ECG parameters reflecting TDR (TpTe, TpTec) in patients with systolic dysfunction after MI and ICD implanted for primary prevention.