New RCES Credential is Created:
The Registered Cardiac Electrophysiology Specialist (RCES) credential became available in the Fall of 2007. The RCES credential is proposed as an entry level credential, which will establish a minimum standard that will be internationally recognized.

Passing of Dr. Henry Marriott:
On August 31st, 2007, the electrophysiology and cardiology community lost a revered teacher and expert electrocardiographer: Dr. Henry Marriott. Marriott was born in Bermuda in 1917. He was later a Rhodes Scholar and attended Oxford University. He also worked under Sir Alexander Fleming, the developer of penicillin. EP Lab Digest’s Editor-in-Chief Dr. Todd J. Cohen wrote of Dr. Marriott, “He will be remembered as one of the quintessential electrocardiographers of his era.”*
*Cohen TJ. A Fond Farewell to Dr. Henry Marriott. EP Lab Digest 2007; 7(11):36.

“Anniversary Reaction” Discovered:
In 2007, Michael O. Sweeney, MD et al published research on the “anniversary reaction” phenomenon. In the research, they described a case in which they were able to provide scientific evidence of an anniversary reaction, which occurs when a sudden cardiac arrest takes place on or near the date of a past traumatic event. In the described case, a female patient had been implanted with a defibrillator and was experiencing an uneventful follow-up until a device interrogation performed later showed an episode of rapid ventricular tachycardia (VT). It turns out the VT episode took place the day she was attending a funeral. Specifically, the day that the patient’s father died, her sister-in-law, who was informed by phone of his death, dropped dead upon receipt of the news. Approximately seven days later, on the anniversary of the father’s death and while attending the funeral of her sister-in-law, the patient experienced an episode of VT, which was terminated by her ICD, thereby aborting a potential sudden cardiac death. Sweeney explains that the importance of this case was that they were able to capture “an episode of a plausible mechanism of sudden death at the exact time in the context of tremendous personal loss in someone with a substrate susceptible to ventricular arrhythmia.”*
*The “Anniversary Reaction” Phenomenon: Understanding its Triggers and Mechanisms. EP Lab Digest 2007; 7(8):1-6,8.

High School Senior Presents at Heart Rhythm 2007:
In May, high school senior Jay Thaker presented research on iPod/pacemaker interference at the Heart Rhythm annual scientific sessions. “iPods caused pacemakers to malfunction in 50 percent of patients, according to a new study (AB16-1: “Pacemaker Interference with iPod MP3 Players”) presented by a 17-year-old high school student at Heart Rhythm 2007. When held two inches from the patients’ chests for five to 10 seconds, iPods interfered with telemetry equipment monitoring the heart, caused implantable pacemakers to misread the heart’s pacing, and, in one case, caused the device to stop functioning.
The study tested iPods on 83 patients at the Thoracic and Cardiovascular Institute at Michigan State University with dual-chamber and single-chamber pacemakers. Telemetry interference was found in 29 percent of patients, oversensing (pacemakers misreading the heart’s function) in 20 percent, and pacemaker inhibition (pacemaker stopped functioning) in one patient. In some cases, interference was detected even when iPods were held as far as 18 inches from the chest.”*
*Heart Rhythm 2007: Coverage. EP Lab Digest 2007; 7(6):25-26.

ICD Registry’s First-Year Data Show Few Complications, But Not All Physicians Are Formally Trained:
First-year data from the Baseline ICD Registry™, which became effective April 1, 2006, was published. In the first year, 3,249 physicians participated from 1,117 hospitals, and 108,341 ICD implantation procedures were recorded. One of the key findings from the 2006 report was that there were minimal complications found from device implantations. Results also showed that 15 percent of the physicians who implanted ICDs had no formal training in device implantation (i.e., completion of an EP fellowship and CCEP boards, EP fellowship only, thoracic/cardiac surgery residency, pediatric EP fellowship, or HRS clinical competency standards for ICD and CRT implantation). Launched June 30, 2005, the Baseline ICD Registry™ was developed through a collaboration between the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the Heart Rhythm Society. The ICD Registry™ is a part of the NCDR® (National Cardiovascular Data Registry).

Revised Consensus Statement on Catheter and Surgical Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation is Released:
In 2007, the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS), European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), and European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society (ECAS) released an Expert Consensus Statement regarding catheter and surgical ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF): “HRS/EHRA/ECAS Expert Consensus Statement on Catheter and Surgical Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation: Recommendations for Personnel, Policy, Procedures and Follow-Up.” Some of the recommendations outlined in the report include: 1) it is not acceptable to consider catheter ablation for AF as a first-line therapy; 2) necessary training in AF ablation during fellowship should include a minimum of 30–50 AF ablative procedures, and 3) post-ablation follow-up should be at a minimum of three months from the procedure and thereafter every six months for at least two years.