EHRA ICD for Life Summit to be held in Belgrade, Serbia

An EHRA ICD for Life Summit will be held in Belgrade, Serbia, during 19-20 October, to discuss challenges and unmet needs in Central and Eastern European countries. The Summit is targeted at politicians, health insurance companies, policy makers, representatives of health ministries, arrhythmologists and electrophysiologists. The president of the Summit Organizing Committee is Professor Goran Milasinovic (Serbia), who pioneered the ICD for Life idea.

ICD implantation rates in Europe vary widely, ranging from 1 ICD implantation per million inhabitants in Ukraine to 326 in Germany. Treatment gaps between East and West exist for other cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) including implantable pulse generators (IPGs, also called pacemakers) and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices.

An expected outcome of the Summit is that each country will identify its own obstacles to treating patients with CIEDs and catheter ablation,. EHRA will then help with solutions, which may include training doctors to implant devices and perform catheter ablation.