S. Effert – författare

Echocardiography has recently become one of'' the most important techniques in clinical cardiology. The major advantage of this method is its noninvasive nature enabling us to apply it under a widespread variety of clinical conditions. In the late 1960s, when research and clinical application of echo cardiography were started, and during the first decade investigations were mainly focused on the morphology of the valves and the chambers of the heart. The introduction of two-dimensional echocardiography was a major breakthrough in visualizing different portions of the heart. How­ ever, the poor resolution of the first devices provided only little qualitative information. With the introduction of phased array 2-D-echo-devices yielding better results and the application of computer techniques for the processing of M-mode and two-dimensional echo cardiograms, a great amount of qualitative information has become available to describe not only the morphology, but also the dynamic function of the heart in a noninvasive manner. This volume summarizes the lectures held at the International Symposium on Echocardiography, Hamburg, September 1978, endeavoring to review the current state of knowledge with regard to echo cardiography in the experimental and clinical setting. We herewith thank all lecturers, who have contributed to the publication and the Pharma-Schwarz Company which enabled us to organize this meeting by a generous subsidy.

Echocardiography has recently become one of' the most important techniques in clinical cardiology. The major advantage of this method is its noninvasive nature enabling us to apply it under a widespread variety of clinical conditions. In the late 1960s, when research and clinical application of echo cardiography were started, and during the first decade investigations were mainly focused on the morphology of the valves and the chambers of the heart. The introduction of two-dimensional echocardiography was a major breakthrough in visualizing different portions of the heart. How­ ever, the poor resolution of the first devices provided only little qualitative information. With the introduction of phased array 2-D-echo-devices yielding better results and the application of computer techniques for the processing of M-mode and two-dimensional echo cardiograms, a great amount of qualitative information has become available to describe not only the morphology, but also the dynamic function of the heart in a noninvasive manner. This volume summarizes the lectures held at the International Symposium on Echocardiography, Hamburg, September 1978, endeavoring to review the current state of knowledge with regard to echo cardiography in the experimental and clinical setting. We herewith thank all lecturers, who have contributed to the publication and the Pharma-Schwarz Company which enabled us to organize this meeting by a generous subsidy.

It was a great pleasure for us to welcome so many experts from all over the world to our symposium in Aachen. We are also pleased - and you can attribute this to my own vanity - with the success and acceptance of the concept of myocardial reperfusion and revascularization - specifically selective intracoronary lysis followed either by PTCA or bypass surgery - which we have been pursuing since 1979. But after the dramatic immediate effects of the first attempts, which you have to experience yourself, we did not expect it to be any different. We decided against performing a randomized study in which every patient is catheterized, and thrombolytic therapy only given to some of the patients, for which we have been criticized at times. At the previous symposium in Aachen in 1983 on the topic of thrombolysis for acute myocardial infarction, in the final session several speakers were asked directly about this topic, and replied that if they were patients they would not want to be randomized into the placebo group. In the meantime positive results from large, randomized studies have been recorded, which are presented in this volume. I mention in particular the Western Washington Study from Dr. Kennedy and the Interuniversity Study in Holland. Aachen, a relatively small city with 250,000 inhabitants, provided the opportunity to treat a relatively large patient population with acute myocardial infarction.