Recommandations

The present document has been conceived as the European update to the American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA)/ESC 2006 Guidelines for management of patients with ventricular arrhythmias (VA) and the prevention of sudden cardiac death (SCD).1 In light of the very recent consensus documents for the management of patients with VA released by the major international heart rhythm societies,2,3 the ESC Guidelines Committee decided to focus the content of this document on the prevention of SCD. The update is timely, considering the new insights into the natural history of diseases predisposing to SCD and the completion of major studies that will impact management strategies for heart failure (HF) involving both drug and device therapies.

Task Force Members: Gilles Montalescot* (Chairperson) (France), Udo Sechtem* (Chairperson) (Germany), Stephan Achenbach (Germany), Felicita Andreotti (Italy), Chris Arden (UK), Andrzej Budaj (Poland), Raffaele Bugiardini (Italy), Filippo Crea (Italy), Thomas Cuisset (France), Carlo Di Mario (UK), J. Rafael Ferreira (Portugal), Bernard J. Gersh (USA), Anselm K. Gitt (Germany), Jean-Sebastien Hulot (France), Nikolaus Marx (Germany), Lionel H. Opie (South Africa), Matthias Pfisterer (Switzerland), Eva Prescott (Denmark), Frank Ruschitzka (Switzerland), Manel Sabate´(Spain), Roxy Senior (UK), David Paul Taggart (UK), Ernst E. van derWall (Netherlands), Christiaan J.M. Vrints (Belgium).

Authors/Task Force Members: Lars Ryde´n* (ESC Chairperson) (Sweden), Peter J. Grant* (EASD Chairperson) (UK), Stefan D. Anker (Germany), Christian Berne (Sweden), Francesco Cosentino (Italy), Nicolas Danchin (France), Christi Deaton (UK), Javier Escaned (Spain), Hans-Peter Hammes (Germany), Heikki Huikuri (Finland), Michel Marre (France), Nikolaus Marx (Germany), Linda Mellbin (Sweden), Jan Ostergren (Sweden), Carlo Patrono (Italy), Petar Seferovic (Serbia), Miguel Sousa Uva (Portugal), Marja-Riita Taskinen (Finland), Michal Tendera (Poland), Jaakko Tuomilehto (Finland), Paul Valensi (France), Jose Luis Zamorano (Spain)

Authors/Task Force Members: Michele Brignole (Chairperson) (Italy)*, Angelo Auricchio (Switzerland), Gonzalo Baron-Esquivias (Spain), Pierre Bordachar (France), Giuseppe Boriani (Italy), Ole-A Breithardt (Germany), John Cleland (UK), Jean-Claude Deharo (France), Victoria Delgado (Netherlands), Perry M. Elliott (UK), Bulent Gorenek (Turkey), CarstenW. Israel (Germany), Christophe Leclercq (France), Cecilia Linde (Sweden), Lluı´s Mont (Spain), Luigi Padeletti (Italy), Richard Sutton (UK), Panos E. Vardas (Greece)

Authors/Task Force Members: Giuseppe Mancia (Chairperson) (Italy)*, Robert Fagard (Chairperson) (Belgium)*, Krzysztof Narkiewicz (Section co-ordinator) (Poland), Josep Redon (Section co-ordinator) (Spain), Alberto Zanchetti (Section co-ordinator) (Italy), Michael Bo¨hm (Germany), Thierry Christiaens (Belgium), Renata Cifkova (Czech Republic), Guy De Backer (Belgium), Anna Dominiczak (UK), Maurizio Galderisi (Italy), Diederick E. Grobbee (Netherlands), Tiny Jaarsma (Sweden), Paulus Kirchhof (Germany/UK), Sverre E. Kjeldsen (Norway), Ste´phane Laurent (France), Athanasios J. Manolis (Greece), Peter M. Nilsson (Sweden), Luis Miguel Ruilope (Spain), Roland E. Schmieder (Germany), Per Anton Sirnes (Norway), Peter Sleight (UK), Margus Viigimaa (Estonia), BernardWaeber (Switzerland), Faiez Zannad (France)

Authors/Task Force Members: Alec Vahanian (Chairperson) (France)*, Ottavio Alfieri (Chairperson)* (Italy), Felicita Andreotti (Italy), Manuel J. Antunes (Portugal), Gonzalo Baron-Esquivias (Spain), Helmut Baumgartner (Germany), Michael Andrew Borger (Germany), Thierry P. Carrel (Switzerland), Michele De Bonis (Italy), Arturo Evangelista (Spain), Volkmar Falk (Switzerland), Bernard Iung (France), Patrizio Lancellotti (Belgium), Luc Pierard (Belgium), Susanna Price (UK), Hans-Joachim Schafers (Germany), Gerhard Schuler (Germany), Janina Stepinska (Poland), Karl Swedberg (Sweden), Johanna Takkenberg (The Netherlands), Ulrich Otto Von Oppell (UK), Stephan Windecker (Switzerland), Jose Luis Zamorano (Spain), Marian Zembala (Poland)