Foreword

Article Outline

• Copyright

About 50 years ago, non-invasive assessment of myocardial ischemia entered into clinical cardiology with the two step Master’s Test. This was followed by better methods of exercising. The ECG was used as the technique to assess ischemia.

Thirty five years ago, radionuclide techniques were introduced to assess non-invasively myocardial perfusion and left ventricular function. Barry Zaret was one of the pioneers in the field. Over the last 35 years, this field has developed extensively, has become very sophisticated, and has provided extremely important diagnostic and prognostic information. In the current issue of the Journal, Dr. Zaret and his colleague have provided a superb and extensive review of all aspects of nuclear cardiology; it has 376 references. They have also provided a “view” of the future of nuclear cardiology. The Editorial Board and I are grateful to Drs. Zaret and Russell for this outstanding work.

The Editorial Board and I are extremely fortunate to have George A. Beller, M.D.^⁎ provide comments for this manuscript. Dr. Beller is also a pioneer in this field with a very large number of publications and has a superb knowledge base. As Chief of Cardiology, he also built up an excellent Division of Cardiology at the University of Virginia. He is past president of American College of Cardiology. We thank him for his valuable comments.

• ⁎ George A. Beller, M.D. is currently Ruth E. Heede Professor in Cardiology and Professor of Medicine at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22908-0729.