Some actual aspects of ischemic heart disease.

The 59th annual conference of the German Society for Heart and Vessel Research was held from 15th to 17th April 1993 in Mannheim. More than six hundred lectures and posters were presented (including those invited from abroad) introducing the topics of current experimental and clinical cardiology. The primary lectures dealt with problems of etiology and pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and its complications. Also the principles of treatment of ischemic heart disease were discussed. Moreover, insights into confusing problems of reperfusion injury, hibernating myocardium and stunned myocardium were introduced. The presented data have shown that myocardial ischemia, its etiology, pathogenesis, manifestations and treatment form a bulk of challenging problems of present cardiology. Many such phenomena were described, which provoke more questions than give answers. Only close interdisciplined cooperation can help to solve some of them in the near future. (Ref. 35.)