JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions: The End of the Beginning
Eugene Braunwald, MD, MACC, Immediate Past Chairman, ACC Publications Committee*
In 1929, a unique event occurred in the then-young specialty of cardiology when Werner Forssmann performed the first cardiac catheterization—on himself! After what seemed to many as a one-time stunt, in 1941, Andre Cournand and Dickinson Richards began a systematic investigation of cardiovascular structure and function by means of cardiac catheterization, supplemented in some instances by selective angiography. These three pioneers were rewarded with the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1956. The next milestone occurred in 1958 when Mason Sones introduced coronary arteriography. Because these invasive techniques provide such important information, both scientific and clinical, cardiac catheterization laboratories proliferated rapidly around the world.
In 1975, Andreas Gruentzig performed the first percutaneous coronary angioplasty and extended invasive into interventional cardiology. Although Gruentzig’s initial report stunned the medical world, no one (myself included) imagined the extraordinary advances in cardiac care that have resulted. Although the primary focus of interventional cardiology has been on coronary arterial disease, the subspecialty has grown enormously, both in depth and in breadth. It now includes repair of congenital cardiac defects, diseased cardiac valves, the aorta, and carotid and peripheral arteries. Some ventricular assist devices are now percutaneously inserted into the left side of the heart. New devices and device-drug-tissue interactions are certain to continue the important advances of interventional cardiology. A variety of disciplines, including adult cardiology, pediatric cardiology, radiology, surgery, pathology, and many basic sciences, have made and will continue to make major contributions to the field. To characterize interventional cardiology today, it is fair to quote Winston Churchill, when he described World War II in 1942. "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning" (1).
One of the principal responsibilities of the American College of Cardiology is to disseminate the latest developments in clinical cardiology and cardiovascular science to its members and to other cardiovascular specialists. The College leadership has noted the explosion in the quantity and range of new cardiovascular information. The emergence of several robust subspecialties of cardiology, including interventional cardiology, has created the need for high-quality publication outlets in these subspecialties. Therefore, the Publications Committee of the College and its talented staff, working closely with the College leadership, developed a vision for and then the concrete plans for creation of JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions. The committee invited Spencer B. King III, MD, MACC, a distinguished interventional cardiologist and former President of the College, to be thefounding Editor-in-Chief of this new journal. Dr. King accepted this invitation and he has moved rapidly to put together an outstanding group of associate editors, editorial board members, and consultants. JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions now takes its place with its twin sister, JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, as the most recent contribution of the College to the dissemination of important information, so that cardiovascular specialists the world over can offer the highest quality of care to their patients.
* Address correspondence to Eugene Braunwald, MD, MACC, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 350 Longwood Avenue, Office Level One, Boston, Massachusetts 02115 (Email: ebraunwald{at}partners.org).
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- The Churchill Centre Quotations and stories http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid-388Accessed January 10, 2007.
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