• DOI:10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.113.302254
• Corpus ID: 8857429

Research Advances in Heart Failure: A Compendium

@article{Braunwald2013ResearchAI,
  title={Research Advances in Heart Failure: A Compendium},
  author={Eugene Braunwald},
  journal={Circulation Research},
  year={2013},
  volume={113},
  pages={633–645}
}

• E. Braunwald
• Published 30 August 2013
• Medicine
• Circulation Research

Without question, the past half century has witnessed spectacular advances in cardiovascular medicine and surgery. In the United States, a full two thirds of the 6-year prolongation of life that has occurred has been a direct consequence of these advances1 that did not spring forth simply from the heads of brilliant, insightful clinicians. Instead, most advances were based on preclinical research that were then translated into improvements in clinical care.2

For instance, the microbiologists who connected streptococcal infection to acute rheumatic fever and, subsequently, the discovery of penicillin by a microbiologist, an experimental pathologist, and a biochemist led to the virtual elimination of acute rheumatic fever, which in turn was responsible for the marked reduction of chronic rheumatic valvular heart disease in large portions of the world. Almost all residual cases of the latter can now be corrected by open heart surgery or catheter-based techniques, which were made possible by the efforts of bioengineers, pharmacologists, and physiologists collaborating with surgeons and cardiologists. The striking reduction in mortality of acute myocardial infarction that has occurred since 19603 would not have been possible had physicists not previously developed the cathode ray oscilloscope, which enabled the continuous monitoring of the ECG, and if engineers had not developed the capacitors that store the electric charge required for ventricular defibrillation. Without pharmacologists and cell biologists, statins, which are enormously useful in preventing the development and progression of atherosclerosis, would not have been developed. These are just a few examples of the seminal scientific efforts that have provided the underpinnings of modern cardiology.

However, despite the spectacular advances of the past half century, cardiovascular disease is still the most common cause of death and disability in industrialized nations,4 and its prevalence is rising rapidly in developing nations. Almost one half of all …