European Society of Cardiology

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) is a non-profit, independent, non-governmental scientific organisation founded in 1950. The ESC’s mission is “to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease”. Today, the ESC represents over 80,000 cardiology professionals from 56 ESC Member States, principally from across Europe and the Mediterranean basin, but also from the rest of the world. The organisation provides an array of scientific and educational activities, such as the production and continuous updating of Clinical Practice Guidelines, the organisation of educational courses and initiatives, pan-European surveys on specific disease areas. It also organises the annual ESC Congress, the largest medical meeting in Europe on cardiovascular medicine and one of the largest worldwide. In addition, The ESC holds, in conjunction with its constituent bodies, subspecialty congresses, which are very popular within the profession. The ESC and its associations edit more than 10 journals on cardiovascular medicine, some of which belong to the world’s leading journals.

Six associations of the ESC are devoted to large subspecialties of cardiovascular medicine. One of these ESC associations is the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA),

the leading European scientific society for cardiac arrhythmias. Its mission is “To improve the quality of the population by reducing the impact of cardiac rhythm disturbances and reduce sudden cardiac death”. In order to accomplish this mission, the association tries to assure optimal quality in arrhythmia healthcare by a large education programme, by assessing the competence in knowledge, skills and attitudes of professionals, allied professionals and institutions and with a well-established fellowship programme. With a dedicated certification programme, the EHRA has set the European benchmark for professional physician certification in the field of interventional electrophysiology, cardiac implantable electronic devices and also for allied professionals in electrophysiology. The association also engages in many other activites within its field of specialty.

All relevant information can be found on the ESC and EHRA website.

Website

www.escardio.org
www.escardio.org/EHRA

Relevant Publications

1. Priori SG, Blomström-Lundqvist C, Mazzanti A, Blom N, Borggrefe M, Camm J, Elliott PM, Fitzsimons D, Hatala R, Hindricks G, Kirchhof P, Kjeldsen K, Kuck KH, Hernandez-Madrid A, Nikolaou N, Norekvål TM, Spaulding C, Van Veldhuisen DJ; Authors/Task Force Members; Document Reviewers. 2015 ESC Guidelines for the management of patients with ventricular arrhythmias and the prevention of sudden cardiac death: The Task Force for the Management of Patients with Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)Endorsed by: Association for European Paediatric and Congenital Cardiology (AEPC). Eur Heart J. 2015 Nov 1;36(41):2793-867.

These are the European guidelines for prevention of sudden cardiac death. The ESC issues guidelines for medical practice covering all fields of cardiovascular medicine.

2. Raatikainen MJ, Arnar DO, Merkely B, Camm AJ, Hindricks G. Access to and clinical use of cardiac implantable electronic devices and interventional electrophysiological procedures in the European Society of Cardiology Countries: 2016 Report from the European Heart Rhythm Association. Europace. 2016 Aug;18 Suppl 3:iii1-iii79.

A report about the utilisation of resources and procedures, including implantation of cardiac devices for prevention of sudden cardiac death, performed in the different countries in Europe.

3. Dagres N, Hindricks G. Risk stratification after myocardial infarction: is left ventricular ejection fraction enough to prevent sudden cardiac death? Eur Heart J. 2013 Jul;34(26):1964-71.

A paper providing an overview on the significance but also the limitations of a poor heart function as predictor of sudden cardiac death.