Cleveland Clinic’s 8th Annual Global EP Summit examines practical decisions in arrhythmia care, from ventricular tachycardia ablation to atrial fibrillation management and stroke prevention. The September 18–19, 2026 program includes sessions on pulsed field ablation, refractory ventricular arrhythmias, mapping, physiologic pacing, lead management, and sudden cardiac death. Case discussions connect these subjects with difficult procedural choices, while the fellows program revisits ablation, left atrial appendage closure, device management, and arrhythmia mechanisms. The material is aimed at electrophysiologists, cardiologists, trainees, and other clinicians involved in rhythm care. The original agenda below retains the session sequence, speakers, and moderators.
Learning Objectives
After completing this activity, participants will be able to:
- Evaluate and apply contemporary catheter ablation strategies for ventricular arrhythmias by incorporating pre-procedural MRI and CT for VT circuit identification, assessing the feasibility and outcomes of substrate-based VT ablation without VT induction, interpreting early clinical lessons from pulsed field ablation for ventricular arrhythmias, and selecting mapping and ablation approaches for challenging idiopathic ventricular arrhythmia sites and ventricular fibrillation triggers or substrate.
- Integrate and evaluate emerging evidence and new technologies for the prevention, detection, risk assessment, rhythm and rate management, and stroke prevention into the care of patients with atrial fibrillation.
- Assess candidacy for ventricular tachycardia ablation in high-risk patients, appraise the current and emerging roles of cardiac radio-ablation and cardiac sympathetic denervation for refractory VT/VF, and apply multidisciplinary clinical reasoning to complex ventricular arrhythmia cases to guide individualized management decisions.
- Apply an individualized approach to atrial fibrillation management by integrating evolving AF classification concepts, atrial myopathy assessment, heart failure and sleep apnea comorbidity considerations, obesity management strategies, and continuous monitoring data to inform the timing and selection of AF ablation.
- Discuss strategies to improve treatment outcomes in patients with ventricular arrhythmias and structural heart disease, including new ablation techniques and technologies.
- Evaluate diverse causes of sudden cardiac death across congenital heart disease, younger patient populations, and inherited channelopathies, and apply a systematic diagnostic approach to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome to improve risk assessment, differential diagnosis, and management planning.
Original Meeting Agenda
The agenda includes registration, breaks, optional satellite activities, and the fellows program. Its inclusion does not confirm that every scheduled activity is present in the supplied recordings.
Friday, September 18
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7:00 AM
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Registration & Breakfast |
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7:30 AM
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Welcome and Announcements Oussama Wazni, MD, MBA |
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7:35 AM
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Heart Rhythm Society Update Sana Al-Khatib, MD |
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7:45 AM
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Top EP Publications in 2026 and What to Look for in 2027 Kalyanam Shivkumar, MD, PhD |
Session 1 – Ventricular Arrhythmia Ablation
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8:00 AM
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Identification of VT Circuit with Pre-Procedural Cardiac Imaging (MRI and CT) Jeffrey Winterfield, MD |
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8:10 AM
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Substrate-Based VT Ablation with No VT Induction: Feasibility and Outcomes Andre D’Avila, MD |
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8:20 AM
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Early US Clinical Experience with PFA for Ventricular Arrhythmias – Lessons Learned Pasquale Santangeli, MD, PhD |
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8:30 AM
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Mapping and Ablation of Challenging Idiopathic Ventricular Arrhythmia Locations: Intracavitary Structures, Para-Hisian Locations, Epicardial Koji Higuchi, MD, PhD |
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8:40 AM
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Ablation of Ventricular Fibrillation – Ablation of Trigger or Ablation of Substrate Jakub Sroubek, MD, PhD |
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8:50 AM
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Panel Discussion/Q&A Session Faculty |
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9:10 AM
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Break |
Part 2: Bailout Strategies for Refractory Cases
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9:20 AM
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When to Say No to VT Ablation? Identifying the Highest Risk Patient Jakub Sroubek, MD, PhD |
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9:30 AM
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Cardiac Radioablation for Refractory VT – The Cleveland Clinic Experience Justin Lee, MD |
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9:40 AM
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Cardiac Sympathetic Denervation for VT/VF – Current Role and Future Directions Olujimi Ajijola, MD, PhD |
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9:50 AM
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CCF Fellow Presents Challenging VT Case and Panel Discussion Panelists: Olujimi Ajijola, MD, PhD, Roy Chung, MD, Andre D’Avila, MD, Koji Higuchi, MD, PhD, Justin Lee, MD, Pasquale Santangeli, MD, PhD, Jeffrey Winterfield, MD |
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10:00 AM
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Panel Discussion/Q&A Session Faculty |
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10:20 AM
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Break |
Session 2 – Clinical AF Management
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10:30 AM
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It is time to Change AF Classification System Nassir Marrouche, MD |
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10:40 AM
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Understanding Atrial Myopathy: A Personalized Approach to AF Ablation Nazem Akoum, MD, MS |
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10:50 AM
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AF Ablation in Advanced Heart Failure Philipp Sommer, MD |
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11:00 AM
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Sleep Apnea and AF, VT, CHF Michael Faulx, MD |
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11:10 AM
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AF in Obesity? Why Can’t I Use Ozempic? Leslie Cho, MD |
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11:20 AM
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Update on Castle II Study Nassir Marrouche, MD |
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11:30 AM
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How Early Should We Ablate AF, Insights from Continuous Monitoring Jason Andrade, MD |
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11:40 AM
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First Line Ablation for Persistent AF Oussama Wazni, MD, MBA |
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11:50 AM
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Panel Discussion/Q&A Session Faculty |
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12:10 PM
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Lunch & Optional Non-CME Satellites |
Session 3 – Stroke Prevention
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1:10 PM
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AF Screening: Who, When and How? Abbas Kharal, MD, MPH |
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1:20 PM
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Personalized and Targeted Stroke Prevention Shazam Hussain, MD |
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1:30 PM
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Future Directions in Stroke Prevention: Surgical, Catheter based, Adjunctive OAC and LAAO Jeff Healey, MD |
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1:40 PM
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ICE Guided Combined AF Ablation + LAAO Frank Cuoco, MD |
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1:50 PM
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Welcome to the Real World of LAA Closure: Challenges and Triumphs Walid Saliba, MD |
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2:00 PM
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Reverse Option Chenyang Jiang, MD |
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2:10 PM
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New Devices: LAAO Devices Devi Nair, MD |
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2:20 PM
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Panel Discussion/Q&A Session Faculty |
Session 4 – Hot Topics in AF Ablation
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2:40 PM
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New PFA Catheters (Sphere 360, Faraflex, Volt, etc.) DJ Lakkireddy, MD |
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2:50 PM
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Lesion Prediction in PFA Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD, PhD |
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3:00 PM
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Novel Large Footprint PFA Catheters: Early Experience Ante Anic, MD |
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3:10 PM
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Update on Clinical Outcomes with PFA of Atrial Arrhythmias: Clinical Trials and Real-World Data Moussa Mansour, MD |
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3:20 PM
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Atypical Atrial Flutters (AFL) Ablation: Impact of PFA Ayman Hussein, MD |
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3:30 PM
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Panel Discussion/Q&A Session Faculty |
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3:50 PM
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Break |
Session 5 – Mapping in AF
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4:00 PM
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Maximizing Success for Persistent AF Ablation: Empiric Ablation or Mapping Andrea Natale, MD |
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4:10 PM
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Mapping of AF: Is it Needed? Why and When? Mandeep Bhargava, MD |
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4:20 PM
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Cortex (Overview Tech and Case Presentation) Vivek Reddy, MD |
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4:30 PM
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Carto Finder Luigi DiBiase, MD, PhD |
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4:40 PM
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vMap in Clinical Practice: Technology Overview and Use Cases Devi Nair, MD |
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4:50 PM
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Panel Discussion/Q&A Session Faculty |
Session 6 – THE GREAT DEBATE
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5:10 PM
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OCEAN! No Need for Anything Atul Verma, MD |
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5:20 PM
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OPTION! Close it and Forget About it Vivek Reddy, MD |
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5:30 PM
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Rebuttals Atul Verma, MD and Vivek Reddy, MD |
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5:50 PM
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Day 1 Adjourn |
Saturday, September 19
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7:30 AM
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Registration & Breakfast |
Session 7 – New Frontiers in Pacing and Lead Management
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8:00 AM
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Conduction System Pacing Parikshit Sharma, MD |
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8:10 AM
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Our Experience with Leadless Device Management Thomas Callahan, MD |
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8:20 AM
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Avoiding Extraction Catastrophes Arshneel Kochar, MD |
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8:30 AM
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New Tools and Approaches in Lead Extraction David Martin, MD, MPH |
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8:40 AM
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Surgical Backup Shinya Unai, MD |
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8:50AM
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Panel Discussion/Q&A Session Faculty |
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9:10 AM
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Break |
Session 8 – Sudden Cardiac Death and CHD
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9:20 AM
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Tackling the SCA Challenge Mina Chung, MD |
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9:30 AM
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Sudden Cardiac Death in the Young Iqbal El-Assaad, MD |
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9:40 AM
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Inherited Channelopathies Jeff Courson, DO |
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9:50 AM
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A Systematic Approach to POTS Kenneth Mayuga, MD |
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10:00 AM
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Panel Discussion/Q&A Session Faculty |
Session 9 – Advances in EP
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10:20 AM
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Ablate First or Clip the MV First? Samir Kapadia, MD |
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10:30 AM
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Our PFA Experience Tyler Taigen, MD |
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10:40 AM
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Artificial Intelligence and Sudden Cardiac Death Justin Lee, MD |
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10:50 AM
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Updates from Our Preclinical Work Arwa Younis, MD |
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11:00 AM
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Clinical Outcomes PFA+ LAAO Chadi Tabaja, MD |
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11:10 AM
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MRI and EP Chris Nguyen, PhD |
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11:20 AM
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Panel Discussion/Q&A Session Faculty |
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11:40 AM
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Lunch & Optional Non-CME Satellites |
Session 10 – Cleveland Clinic EP in Action
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12:40 PM
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VT Ablation in Patients with Aortic and Mitral Mechanical Valves Pasquale Santangeli, MD, PhD |
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12:50 PM
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Tough Case of Combined AF Ablation and LAA Closure Mohamed Kanj, MD |
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1:00 PM
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Redo Redo AF Ablation Ayman Hussein, MD |
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1:10 PM
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Redo Redo AFL Ablation Walid Saliba, MD |
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1:20 PM
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Panel Discussion/Q&A Session Faculty |
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1:40 PM
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Adjourn |
Fellows Program 1:50-5:05 PM (ALL CASE BASED)
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| AF Ablation/ LAA Closure | |
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1:50-2:05 PM
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Lesion Prediction in PFA Arwa Younis, MD |
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2:05-2:20 PM
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Principles of AFL Mapping and Ablation Mandeep Bhargava, MD |
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2:20-2:35 PM
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Maximizing Success in LAA Closure Mohamed Kanj, MD |
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2:35-2:50 PM
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Break and Open Discussion |
| VT Ablation | |
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2:50-3:05 PM
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VT Ablation in Ischemic Cardiomyopathy Pasquale Santangeli, MD, PhD |
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3:05-3:20 PM
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VT Ablation in Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy Jakub Sroubek, MD, PhD |
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3:20-3:35 PM
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Break and Open Discussion |
| Device Management |
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3:35-3:50 PM
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Maximizing Physiologic Pacing Success Parikshit Sharma, MD |
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3:50-4:05 PM
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Maximizing Extraction Success Tom Callahan, MD |
| Arrhythmia Mechanisms | |
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4:05-5:05 PM
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Quiz on Kahoot? Walid Saliba, MD, Mandeep Bhargava, MD and Bryan Baranowski, MD |
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