Considerable advances have been made in cardiology during the last few decades. In particular, there has been great progress in the field of coronary angiography both when combined with, and without, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic reso- nance (MR) imaging. These techniques of modern imaging allow the cardiologist and coronary surgeon to study every cardiac structure in detail, both two- and three-di- mensionally and from either side, to analyze the movements of the heart and valves, and to observe myocardial circulation and even myocardial metabolic processes. However, coronary heart...

Enhanced performance,evaluation,and interpretation of the various forms ofcardi- ological diagnostic procedures and open-heart surgery, the achievement of a rapid improvement in the oxygen consumption ofhypoxic myocardium,and the salvage of viable but ischemic myocardium still appear to constitute the most important chal- lenges to modern medicine. Research on the vascular anatomyof the myocardium has mostlybeen focused on the coronary arteries and myocardial capillaries (von Liidinghausen 2002); by com- parison, the coronaryor cardiac venous systems have traditionally been neglected. A...