Disclosures:
The following authors have potential conflicts of interest: T.K. received a research grant from Daiichi-Sankyo, and lecture fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Daiichi-Sankyo and Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim, and honoraria for writing promotional material for Bristol-Myers Squibb. A.H. accepted remuneration from Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim, Bayer Healthcare, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Daiichi-Sankyo. M. Kimura accepted remuneration from Johnson & Johnson K.K., Medtronic Japan, Bayer Healthcare. H. Fukaya received lecture fees from Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim and Daiichi-Sankyo. S. Nakahara received lecture fees from Bayer Healthcare, Daiichi-Sankyo, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Pfizer Japan, and Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim. W.S. received research funding from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Daiichi-Sankyo, and Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim, and patent royalties/licensing fees from Daiichi-Sankyo, Pfizer Japan, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bayer Healthcare, and Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim. T.H. serves as a consultant to Medtronic Japan and has received lecture fees from Daiichi-Sankyo. K.O. received remuneration from Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo, Johnson & Johnson, and Medtronic Japan. K. Soejima received research funding from Daiichi-Sankyo and Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim, and accepted remuneration from Medtronic Japan, Jonson & Jonson, and Abbott Medical Japan. N.H. accepted remuneration from Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bayer Healthcare, and research funding from Bayer Healthcare, Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo. M.H. received lecture fee from Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo, and Johnson & Johnson. K. Satomi received research funding from BIOTRONIK Japan. N.M. received research funding from Daiichi-Sankyo. Y.O. received research funding from Bayer Healthcare, Daiichi-Sankyo, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer Japan, TORAY, and Boston Scientific Japan and has accepted remuneration from Bayer Healthcare, Daiichi-Sankyo, and Bristol-Meyers Squibb. Other authors have no conflicts of interest.
Corresponding author: Takeshi Kato, MD
Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University
13-1, Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-8641, Japan
Telephone: +81-76-265-2254
Fax: +81-76-234-4251
E-mail: takeshikato@me.com
Total word count: 4692 words including title page, abstract, text, references, and figures legends.