| Electrocardiography was developed
as a clinical tool about one hundred years ago. Since that time the
ECG has been the first and most important method for diagnosing cardiac
diseases and for monitoring the status of the patient.
The development of computers made it possible to
create automatic diagnostic programs and thus
considerably decrease the work needed for cardiac diagnosis.
Computer models of the cardiac electric field and the
development of the theory of bioelectromagnetism increase our possibilities
to understand the activation sequence and its measurement
process in more detail. One new area is the detection of
the magnetic field induced by the cardiac electric sources. The
new implantable cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators include intelligent
sensors and versatile programs to control the operation of
the heart. Despite the simple basic principle of the ECG
and its hundred year old history, this important field of
science is continuously strongly developing and improving.
The congress venue in Helsinki
is in the heart of the monumental center of the city. In June
the days are sunny and warm and the nights are light in Finland.
You will certainly enjoy the beauty of the Empire style architecture
of the White City of the North.
Following the congress there
is the Midnight Sun Symposium in Lapland. The Symposium focuses
on abnormal cardiac repolarization and how to ablate paraxysmal
atrial fibrillation. This would be a unique opportunity for you
to follow a scientific lecture at midnight in full sunshine !
I wish you all sincere welcome
to Finland and I hope that you enjoy your stay here !
Jaakko Malmivuo
Congress President
|
