Left ventricular form and function: scientific priorities and strategic planning for development of new views of disease.

Abstract

Heart failure continues to be one of the most costly and prevalent medical problems. The increasing age of our population and the increased survival of patients with diseases that lead to heart failure will no doubt further magnify this very serious health problem at a staggering cost, both monetary and human. To address this public health concern, a fuller understanding of what constitutes normal cardiac function is essential to recognize optimal goals for restoration after disease disrupts stability. From micro to macro, our limited understanding of the heart’s function continues to represent an obstacle to our ability to design strategies for effective treatment of heart failure. Thus, there is a critical need to address the existing and emerging issues in this area to develop new safe and effective strategies to address the clinical challenges facing cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons. As a result of this need, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute convened a workshop entitled “Form and Function: New Views on Development, Diseases, and Therapies for the Heart” on April 25 to 26, 2002, in Bethesda, Maryland. The objective was an effort to understand the importance of structure/function relationships of the intact ventricles from both the basic science and clinical perspectives, to define where progress is most urgently needed, and to plan research programs that will most effectively integrate understanding of functional geometry into therapy of human heart disease.