Foreword

Article Outline

• Copyright

Modern pharmacologic and revascularization therapies have been remarkably successful in markedly improving patient outcomes. Nevertheless, major untoward events, including myocardial infarction and death, continue to occur in “apparently” healthy people, which frequently are euphemisms of the asymptomatic state.

Because we have access to effective therapy, it has become very important to identify the asymptomatic patient who is at “high risk.” The challenges are (1) accurately defining the level of risk; (2) defining the extent of benefit with various therapies; and (3) finding the best treatment strategy.

As the old saying goes “You have to learn to walk before learning to run.” Dr. Bax has put together a superb article with the expert help of Dr. Joanne Schuijf. They have recruited leading researchers and experts from Europe and the USA to summarize the information related to the first step, namely, defining the asymptomatic patient who is at “high risk.” Their efforts have been extremely successful. As a result, this issue of Current Problems in Cardiology is most valuable and will be of great help to all practitioners of medicine.

The Editorial Board and I are most grateful to all the authors and especially to Professor Jeroen Bax for this superb state-of-the-art document.