The Lead Podcast presented by Heart Rhythm Society

Join HRS Board Member Prashanthan Sanders, MBBS, PhD, FHRS (University of Adelaide) as he discusses this exciting paper, presented at Heart Rhythm 2025. He is joined in the Heart Rhythm Tv Studio in San Diego, California by Louise Segan, MBBS, MPH (Alfred Health), and Takanori Yamaguchi, MD, PhD (Saga University). This discussion took place on-site at Heart Rhythm 2025.

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Prashanthan Sanders, MBBS, PhD, FHRS, University of Adelaide is joined by Jenish Shroff, MBBS, MD, Australian National University, and Pugazhendhi Vijayaraman, MD, FHRS, Geisinger Heart Institute, to discuss this first-in-human feasibility study evaluated a novel helix-based leadless pacemaker (LPCSP) designed to achieve left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP), a capability current LPs lack. The device was temporarily implanted via ...

Michael S. Lloyd, MD, FHRS, Emory University is joined by Edward P. Gerstenfeld, MD, MS, FHRS, University of California, San Francisco, and Christopher C Cheung, MD, MPH, FHRS, Sunnybrook HSC, University of Toronto, to discuss the VOLT-AF IDE study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of a novel balloon-based pulsed field ablation (PFA) catheter system for treating paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation (PAF and PsAF). Con...

Sandeep A Saha, MD, MS, FHRS, Oregon Heart Center PC is joined by Saket Sanghai, MD, FHRS, Oregon Health & Science University, and Naga Venkata Krishna Chand Pothineni, MD, Kansas City Heart Rhythm Institute, to discuss how the study evaluated the effectiveness of implantable loop recorders (ILRs) in detecting arrhythmias in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Traditional monitoring methods, like Holter monitors, often...

Join host Elizabeth S DeWitt, MD, CEPS-P, and episode guests Cheyenne Beach, MD, FHRS, CEPS-P, and Robert Przybylski, MD as they discuss Sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of mortality in children with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Two risk scores—HCM Risk-Kids and PRIMaCY—have been developed to estimate 5-year risk, but their performance in an independent cohort showed limitations. Both tools tended to overestimate ris...

Join host Michael S. Lloyd, MD, FHRS and episode guests Ante Anic, MD and Konstantinos Vlachos, MD as they discuss the recent article Repeat Procedures after Pulsed Field Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation, the MANIFEST-REDO Study, from Europace. This episode was recorded in-person at EHRA 2025. Bonus video footage of the episode is available on heartrhythm265.org.

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Join host Prashanthan Sanders, MBBS, PhD, FHRS, and episode guests Jason G. Andrade, MD, FHRS, and Melanie Gunawardene, MD, as they discuss Pulsed Field or Cryoballoon Ablation for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation. This discussion was recorded in person at EHRA 2025 in Vienna, Austria. The article under discussion was presented at EHRA 2025 and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Join host Michael S. Lloyd, MD,FHRS and episode participants Karim Benali, MD, PhD and Reinoud Knops, MD, PhD as they discuss this recent article that focuses on unique aspects of implantable defibrillators as experienced by young patients. The team gathered in person for this lively discussion at EHRA 2025 in Vienna. Bonus video footage of the episode is available on heartrhythm365.org.

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Join host and Digital Education Chair Prashanthan Sanders, MBBS, PhD, FHRS, as he discusses this article from Nature with guests Anand N Ganesan, MBBS, PhD, and Tina Baykaner, MD, MPH. This trial was also presented as a late-breaking clinical trial at Heart Rhythm 2024.

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https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03517-w

Host Disclosure(s):

P. Sanders:
Honoraria/Speaking/Consulting: Bo...

Host Melissa E. Middeldorp, MPH, PhD, of the University Medical Centre Groningen & University of Adelaide, is joined by Andrea Robinson, MSN, ACNP, from Riverside Methodist Hospital, OhioHealth, and Jeroen ML Hendriks, PhD, RN, of Maastricht University Medical Centre, in this episode.

The AF-EduCare trial investigated whether targeted patient education (delivered in-person or online) could reduce unplanned cardiovascular events in ...

Michael S. Lloyd, MD, FHRS, Emory University, is joined by Harish Doppalapudi, MD, FHRS, University of Alabama at Birmingham, to discuss this provocative article from late 2024 on Pulmonary Vein Isolation versus SHAM Intervention in Symptomatic Atrial Fibrillation. Special thanks to Prashant D. Bhave, MD, FHRS for his contributions to the discussion.

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Melissa E. Middeldorp, MPH, PhD, University Medical Centre, Groningen & University of Adelaide, is joined by So-Ryoung Lee, MD, PhD, Seoul National University Hospital, and Adrian D. Elliott, PhD, University of Adelaide/Royal, Adelaide Hospital, to discuss a study that compares atrial fibrillation (AF) epidemiology and risk factors between the UK Biobank (a predominantly European cohort) and the Korean NHIS-HEALS cohort to explore ...

William H. Sauer, MD, FHRS, CCDS, Brigham and Women's Hospital, is joined by Arif Elvan, MD, PhD, Klinikum Braunschweig, and Usha B. Tedrow, MD, MS, FHRS, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, to discuss if Voltage mapping could identify the conducting channels potentially responsible for ventricular tachycardia (VT). Standard thresholds (0.5–1.5 mV) were established using bipolar catheters. No thresholds have been analyzed with high-densi...

Deep Chandh Raja, MBBS, MD, PhD, Australian National University, Kauvery Hospital, is joined by Dhiraj Gupta, MBBS, MD, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, and Dominik K Linz, MD, PhD, Maastricht University Medical Center, to discuss a international position paper, developed by the Working Group of the Signal Summit, highlights the challenges in understanding and treating atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common arrhythmia in adul...

William Sauer, MD, FHRS, CCDS, Brigham and Women's Hospital is joined by Tobias Reichlin, MD, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, and Nikolas Nozica, MD, Brigham and Women's Hospital, to discuss the Nature Medicine article Safety of pulsed field ablation in more than 17,000 patients with atrial fibrillation in the MANIFEST-17K study. The following is a brief summary of the ...

William Sauer, MD, FHRS, CCDS, Brigham and Women's Hospital is joined by Wendy Tzou, MD, FHRS, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and Arif Elvan, MD, PhD, Klinikum Braunschweig, to discuss a partial delineation of targets for ablation of ventricular tachycardia (VT) during a stable rhythm is likely responsible for a suboptimal success rate. The abnormal low-voltage near-field functional components may be hidden within ...

Bruce Koplan, MD, FHRS, Brigham and Women's Hospital is joined by Erik Andrews, MD, MPH, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Matthew Reynolds, MD, MS, FHRS, Lahey Hospital & Medical Center to discuss why Oral anticoagulation is recommended after ablation for atrial fibrillation among patients at high risk for stroke. Left atrial appendage closure is a mechanical alternative to anticoagulation, but data regarding its use after atrial ...

William H. Sauer, MD, FHRS, CCDS, Brigham and Women's Hospital is joined by Isabella Alviz, MD, Brigham, and Women’s Hospital, and Usha B. Tedrow, MD, MS, FHRS, Brigham and Women’s Hospital to discuss how patients with ventricular tachycardia and ischemic cardiomyopathy are at high risk for adverse outcomes. Catheter ablation is commonly used when antiarrhythmic drugs do not suppress ventricular tachycardia. Whether catheter ablati...

Dr. Jason T. Jacobson, MD, FHRS, Westchester Medical Center, New York Medical College is joined by Melissa Robinson, MD, FHRS, Providence Heart Institute of Montana, and Dr. Sei Iwai, MD, FHRS, Westchester Medical Center, New York Medical College to discuss:

BACKGROUND Factors determining hemodynamic stability during human ventricular tachycardia (VT) are incompletely understood.
OBJECTIVES This study aimed to characterize sinus ra...