The European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) EUROPACE and CARDIOSTIM, two of Europe’s leading congresses in cardiac electrophysiology, have agreed to hold a joint annual congress during 2014–2017.

Since 2006, EHRA and CARDIOSTIM have had an agreement to hold their respective congresses in alternating years and collaborate on the scientific program.

Under this new agreement, a joint congress will now be held each year in June.

The official agreement was signed by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)-EHRA and CARDIOSTIM-REED on 13 June during CARDIOSTIM 2012 in Nice, France.

Both organizations say that the joint congress will continue to be a high quality scientific congress that attracts the most eminent scientific specialists in the world, reports on the latest news in the field, and provides high-quality training to cardiology professionals.

The new program will be built around four main topics: electrophysiology and catheter ablation, devices, non-invasive electrophysiology, and basic science.

“The scientific quality of the congress program is guaranteed through this contract and we avoid any conflict between the main European arrhythmias communities,” said Panos Vardas, ESC president and EHRA past president. “The industry is happy with this decision because it likes to have one well organized annual electrophysiology conference in Europe.”

While both organizations will maintain their commercial and corporate independence, they have set up a joint committee that will be responsible for establishing the scientific program of the annual congress. It will be led by two co-chairs, one from each organization.

“Having one scientific committee will ensure the quality and also the high level of the scientific content,” said Angelo Auricchio, president of EHRA. “This is a great opportunity for the European electrophysiology community to have a large annual meeting. The congress will also be the annual event for the international electrophysiology community to learn about the scientific activity in Europe.”

In 2014 and 2016 the congress will be called CARDIOSTIM-EHRA EUROPACE. It will be organized by CARDIOSTIM-REED and the committee will be run by the CARDIOSTIM-REED appointed chairman.

In 2015 and 2017 the congress will be called EHRA EUROPACE-CARDIOSTIM and will be organized by ESC-EHRA. In those years the scientific committee will be run by the ESC-EHRA appointed chairman.

By Nikki Withers