Major unmet needs in the cardiovascular area

Abstract

Between all the sub-specialities, cardiology is the one that has managed to significantly improve the prognosis of cardiovascular diseases. This is mainly due to the possibility of treating myocardial infarction through well-organized networks, able to allow timely reperfusion and to the discovery of powerful drugs which are able to reduce blood pressure and the progression of atherosclerosis at the level of heart muscle. Advances in technologies are also greatly contributing to the success of cardiology, allowing precise imaging of the heart and its components as well as providing sophisticated artificial biological values for surgical and, more recently, percutaneous implantations. The prognostic benefit has been demonstrated by appropriate and well-conducted clinical trials which are fuelling the proposal of guidelines, thus making cardiological treatments homogeneous, at least in high-income countries. Observational cardiological research has also developed quite intensively, both at national and international level, with the aim of testing whether guidelines are followed up and to identify the gap and the needs for further research. Interestingly, all the complex growth in cardiology has been developed by a beneficial cooperation between the academia, industry, and the cardiological community. Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved.