End-of-the-Year Issue

Dear readers,

It is that time of year again! How have things changed this year? What can we expect in 2004? In our first feature, Arthur Gasch, President of Medical Strategic Planning, Inc. has provided an overview of the transitions seen this year in both U.S. and international patient monitoring and diagnostic system markets. He writes that the growing need for healthcare systems to open separate Cath and EP labs has resulted in a new need for a networking technology to centralize all the cardiology test results. He also notes that the pace of this transition to integrated systems has accelerated over the last 12 months, and there is no indication that it will slow much next year. Please check out this article to learn what to expect in 2004. Perhaps we may be able to take some tips for the new year from this month s spotlight interview, a lab with a history of very important firsts. Emory Crawford Long Hospital s past achievements include the first implantable defibrillator in Georgia (1987), the state's first implantation of a biventricular pacemaker designed to resynchronize the beating of the ventricles (1997), and the world's first implantation of the Medtronic InSync cardiac resynchronization therapy system following FDA approval (2001). In their spotlight interview, Dr. David DeLurgio describes how this innovative EP lab in Atlanta, Georgia stays so successful. Lastly, I am happy to announce that EP Lab Digest will be published monthly in 2004. I hope you will enjoy the many new exciting features that we will be including in the new year.

Thanks for reading!