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Amiodarone for the treatment of stable ventricular tachycardia – has the Resuscitation Council got it wrong? Dear Sirs, Amiodarone has been the UK Resuscitation Council’s recommendation for the treatment of haemodynamically stable ventricular tachycardia (VT) since 2000.1  It is my opinion that the evidence in support of amiodarone in this setting is poor and that superior agents may exist. In the last six years, three retrospective studies have been published showing a dismal success rate when amiodarone is used to treat patients with stable VT. Marill et al reported that eight out of 28 (29%) patients cardioverted using a dose of 150 m

PARTNER: transcatheter valves just as good as surgery for high risk aortic stenosis Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is just as effective at reducing mortality as surgery for severe aortic stenosis in elderly patients whose age and overall health posed high risks for conventional surgery, according to the results of the PARTNER (Placement of AoRTic TraNscathetER Valve trial). However, stroke rates were higher in the trancatheter group. The transcatheter approach involves delivering a bioprosthetic valve to its target location with a catheter using either transfemoral access or trans-apical access (through the ribs) if peripheral

Chest pain – troponin and athletes Dear Sirs. We recently admitted two young men with chest discomfort suggestive of an acute coronary syndrome, who were troponin I positive. One was a 26-year-old Caucasian with left-sided chest heaviness engaging in regular triathlons. While serial resting electrocardiograms were unremarkable, troponin I on admission and one month later were elevated at 0.1 and 0.09 mg/L, respectively (normal range 0-0.04). An echocardiogram was entirely normal. An exercise treadmill stress test (ETT) was performed to 13 minutes (99% target heart rate achieved) of a Bruce protocol without symptoms or changes in the E