Dear Colleagues,

 

Cardiac surgery has evolved in the approaches and strategies in the last years. Accordingly, remarkable innovations in terms of treatments are proposing and applying. Among these, the minimally invasive surgery, and the catheter -based intervention, such as mitral clip implantation, transcatheter aortic valve implantation, transapical mitral valve repair and replacement, are becoming the very objects of interest of clinicians. In addition of this, several evolving techniques and surgical prosthesis have also enriched the surgical armamentarium. Beside new biomarkers have been discovered thanks to identification of cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in cardiovascular diseases, and suggested as potential diagnostic and prognostic tools to optimize the surgical indications of different cardiac surgery pathologies. Consequently, a close interplay between researchers and clinicians can make a difference in upgrading of surgical studies by providing expertise and higher quality for applying new technologies, improving the management of cardiac pathologies with the help of a solid support from the lab analyses, modern recommendations, and algorithms, as well as for investigating “surgical questions”. A harmonious collaboration between researchers and the team of a cardiac surgery unit with several women as components can be the winning key. The clinicians can identify the medical needs and priorities, the researchers can provide the knowledge of the disease’ s mechanisms, the involved pathways, and benefits in the use of related biomarkers and targets for improving management and achieving personal therapies, and “new ideas”. This can lead to propose and test new solutions for the health and the life quality of patients. A new frontier of this close collaboration is, for example, the application of regenerative medicine for cardiac tissue and structure, including gene and cell therapies.  Finally the application of gender medicine can also help to identify accurate biomarkers according to gender, facilitating a differential cardiac disease management. Accordingly, the impact of gender differences in cardiac pathophysiology has been widely demonstrated. In this issue, all these aspects will be described and discussed, as well as potential limitations and future directions in this incipient field.

 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Carmela Rita Balistreri and Prof. Calogera Pisano

Guest Editors