Nowadays, a knowledge of the microcirculation has become essential for a thorough understanding of the mechanism of organ disorders. In Osaka on 1-2 August 1987, a conference on microcirculatory disorders was held as the Satellite Symposium of the Fourth World Congress for Microcircu- lation and to mark the tenth anniversary of the National Cardiovascular Center of Japan. It was an opportune time for such a meeting, which drew the attendance of biomedical scientists and clinicians from many different parts of the world. The pathophysiological significance of the microcirculation in ischemia...