Can smartphones play a decisive role in advancing personalized cardiology? In the interview series “Digital Impulses,” Larissa Fabritz from the University Heart and Vascular Center Hamburg discusses the possibilities of early cardiological detection using smartphones.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) affects millions of people worldwide – yet the condition is rarely quantified upon diagnosis. The international research project AF-B-STEP aims to change this: for the first time, it will systematically assess how much time individuals spend in AF, expressed as their AF burden, and determine the extent to which the AF burden influences the risk of stroke, heart failure and other aspects of patients´ lives.
Patient:innen mit einem akuten Schlaganfall und gleichzeitig bestehendem Vorhofflimmern haben ein besonders hohes Risiko für einen erneuten Schlaganfall und andere schwerwiegende kardiovaskuläre Ereignisse. In einer europaweiten klinischen Studie unter Leitung von Wissenschaftler:innen des Universitätsklinikums Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) wird jetzt geprüft, ob eine frühe rhythmuserhaltende Behandlung Schlaganfälle effektiv und sicher verhindern kann. Die EU fördert das Projekt in den kommenden sechs Jahren mit sieben Millionen Euro.
8th of November 2025: The results of the CLOSURE-AF-DZHK16 and OCEAN trial were presented during the Late-Breaking Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association (AHA).
Three days of concentrated research: From August 29th to September 1st 2025 AFNET presented itself at the international ESC Congress in Madrid.
This year marked a milestone for AFNET — our very first booth at the DGK Heart Days in Hamburg.
An analysis of patient-operated ECGs from the EAST – AFNET 4 trial revealed: A low AF burden below 6% in the first year of early rhythm control therapy was associated with low cardiovascular event rates during the subsequent 4 years of follow-up. Patients with a higher AF burden on early rhythm control suffered more AF-related events. Today the findings were presented by AFNET board member Prof. Ulrich Schotten, Maastricht University, in a hotline session at the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in Madrid (1,2).
A Win Ratio analysis confirmed the primary result of the NOAH – AFNET 6 trial and did not find an advantage of anticoagulation with edoxaban over no anticoagulation in patients with device-detected atrial fibrillation. Clinical decisions should therefore be guided by individual factors. The findings were presented by Dr. Nina Becher, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany, in a hotline session at the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in Madrid. (1,2)
This year, for the first time, we will also have our own stand at the DGK Heart Days
In this video Prof Goette, from the St. Vincenz Hospital in Paderborn, and Prof. Hatém, from the Sorbonne University in Paris, have a fascinating talk about the MAESTRIA study.
