Guest blog by Jon Drezner, Sports Cardiology Senior Associate Editor

A Summit on Electrocardiogram (ECG) Interpretation in Athletes is being held in Seattle on February 13-14, 2012.  The meeting is sponsored by the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) in partnership with the Pediatric & Congenital Electrophysiology Society (PACES), European Society of Cardiology Sports Cardiology Subsection, the British Journal of Sports Medicine, and the FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Center (F-MARC).  Seattle will host experts on ECG interpretation in athletes from the U.S., Italy, Sweden, U.K., Belgium, Switzerland, Qatar and Brazil.

Summit participants aim to:

1. Define ECG interpretation standards in athletes and;
2. Develop a comprehensive, freely-available online training module for physicians to gain a common foundation in ECG interpretation in athletes.

This educational resource will help physicians distinguish normal ECG variants in athletes from ECG patterns that suggest an underlying cardiac disorder.

This state of the art E-learning program will be hosted by BMJ Learning and will be accessible to any physician in the world with the aim of improving the cardiovascular care of athletes.

Participants include:

AMMSM:

Jonathan Drezner, MD  (Chair)

Jeff Anderson, MD

Chad Asplund, MD

John DiFiori, MD

Kim Harmon, MD

Stephen Paul, MD

ESC Sports Cardiology Section:

Mats Borjesson, MD

Domenico Corrado, MD, PhD

Hein Heidbuchel, MD

Antonio Pelliccia, MD

Sanjay Sharma, MD

PACES

Michael Ackerman, MD, PhD

Bryan Cannon, MD

Peter Fischbach, MD

Jack Salerno, MD

Other U.S. Cardiologists

Euan Ashley, MD

Aaron Baggish, MD

Vic Froelicher, MD

Joseph Marek, MD

David Owens, MD

Jordan Prutkin, MD

Victoria Vetter, MD

F-MARC (FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre)

Christian Schmied, MD

Qatar (Aspetar)

Mathew Wilson, PhD

Brazil

Ricardo Stein, MD, ScD

Related Publications:

• Drezner, J, Harmon, K, and Borjesson, M. 2011. Incidence of sudden cardiac death in athletes: where did the science go? BJSM, 45: 947-948.

• J A Drezner JA, Rogers KJ, and Horneff JG. 2010. Automated external defibrillator use at NCAA Division II and III universities. BJSM, Published online first: 16 November 2010.

• September 2009 BJSM – deals specifically with cardiac issues and the athlete

Podcast:

• Preventing sudden cardiac death with Jon Drezner

Blogs:

• Authoritative resource for sudden cardiac death – finally! Guest blog by Jon Drezner
• New Guidelines to Improve ECG/EKG Interpretation in Athletes – Guest Blog by Dr Babette Pluim
• Sports Cardiology by Dr Jon Drezner
• Debating Strategies to Reduce Sudden Cardiac Death in Athletes: Dr. Drezner Responds to Sports Cardiology Editorial