The art of reading the 12-lead ECG is diminishing. Young cardiologists are focusing on mastering newer and more direct cardiac imaging techniques, such as echocardiography, computed tomography, and MRI, and they are devoting less effort to mastering the ECG. Yet the ECG is still widely used in clinical practice for evaluating patients with chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations, syncope, and various other signs and symptoms.

We're happy to announce a new section titled Focus on ECGs, beginning with the February issue of the Journal. This section will present a case with interesting and challenging ECGs, along with a quiz and a short comment to describe a practical approach for interpreting these ECGs.

Our first Focus on ECGs case (presented on page 94) features a patient with a cardiac pacemaker in place, which adds a level of complexity to the interpretation of an ECG. The associated quiz provides a good exercise to prepare physicians—particularly cardiology fellows in training—to read pacemaker ECGs.

Once an article is published, readers are invited to participate in an accompanying blog, which will be available at THIJournal.blogspot.com. This blog will provide an opportunity for further discussion and dissemination of the knowledge of ECG interpretation. The blog discussion will close 2 weeks after the original publication.

Guidelines are presented below for authors to follow as they prepare their manuscripts for submission. We look forward to receiving your contributions to the new section, as well as your thoughts posted on the blog. We hope that you enjoy this new offering from the THI Journal.