Guest Blogger: Boston AF Symposium Highlights January 27, 2012

Editor’s Note: Guest blogger Hugh Calkins, MD, FHRS, CCDS is the Heart Rhythm Scientific Sessions Program Committee Chair (2012). He provides a brief overview of the Boston AF Symposium, which took place January 12 – 14, 2012.

This year’s Boston AF Symposium was very well attended, with more than 1,200 participants. I would like to share a few highlights from the meeting:

First, the new 2012 HRS/EHRA/ECAS Consensus Document on AF Ablation was presented This document will be published online in early March and will also be presented at the Heart Rhythm Society’s 2012 Annual Scientific Sessions in Boston, MA, May 9-12. Notable changes to the update include a Class and Grade system for defining the indications for AF ablation.

Another highlight was the increasing focus on rotor mapping during AF. Interesting data from several centers around the world point towards the potential of mapping rotors during AF and targeting them for ablation.

There was also a great session focused on the new anticoagulation drugs, which is a very active area in the field of electrophysiology.

During the meeting, Karl Heinz Kuck shared his “small dream” of using AF ablation to prevent paroxysmal AF from become persistent AF. New studies are underway to address this important concept.

 This is just a brief overview of what I enjoyed about the meeting. If you attended the Symposium, please share your own highlights below!

 
Hugh Calkins, MD, FHRS, CCDS
Heart Rhythm 2012 Program Committee Chair
 Johns Hopkins Hospital Baltimore, MD