Brinkmeier-Theofanopoulou, Maria
Tzamalis, Panagiotis
Wehrkamp-Richter, Susan
Radzewitz, Andrea
Merkel, Matthias
Schymik, Gerhard
van Mark, Gesine
Bramlage, Peter http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4121-6866
Schmitt, Claus
Luik, Armin
Article History
Received: 19 December 2017
Accepted: 4 April 2018
First Online: 27 April 2018
Ethics approval and consent to participate
: The study was approved by the responsible local ethics committee at the Freiburg University (Ethik Kommission des Universitätsklinikums Freiburg, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Application number: 446/17). The ethics committee waived retrospective patient informed consent because it would interfere with objectives of the study and the completeness of patients, was deemed to pursue an important scientific goal and result in relevant patient outcomes. The study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
: Armin Luik (AL) has received consulting fees/honoraria from Medtronic, Inc., Boston Scientific Corp., Biosense Webster and St. Jude Medical. Peter Bramlage (PB) has received consulting fees/honoraria from Boston Scientific Corp, Edwards Lifescience, Sanofi, Daiichi Sankyo, and Aspen. Gerhard Schymik (GS) reports to have received consulting fees/honoraria from Medtronic, Edwards Lifescience and St. Jude Medical. Maria Brinkmeier Theofanopoulou (MBT), Panagiotis Tzamalis (PT), Susan Wehrkamp-Richter (SWR), Andrea Radzewitz (AR), Matthias Merkel (MM), Gesine van Mark (GvM), and Claus Schmitt (CM) reported no conflict of interest.
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