Journal of Rare Cardiovascular Diseases

Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Dear Readers,

Before we go any further, try to ponder the quote once said by the Saint Teresa of Calcutta. She was by far one of the most entitled person in the world to say such an unpleasant truth. Certainly, for her entire life she had been working in extreme conditions in rural and underdeveloped areas in India. In the lands where bowl of hot soup, slice of whole‑meal bread and clean bed sheets were unobtainable and priceless commodities. But is that all? No, she perfectly knew that above all, recognition of every human‑being is the crucial thing. Those poor who were cared by her and her convention, could easily understand they are not treated as applicants but as subjects. This difference is of paramount importance and especially applies to the contemporary medicine. In the era of wealth, insurance, procedures, reimbursements, etc., we no longer spend a minute to see the patient in front us as a whole. Some would immediately start to think what is the best arterial access (either femoral or radial), some would argue that magnetic resonance is superior to echocardiography, others would say what guidelines recommend… It is a bit sad, indeed! In most cases, we really do not know what the true patient’s needs are. As a poor excuse, we focus our attention on tiny fragments of patient’s body and boldly claim that we cured him. Too often we try to fix one small body part (sometimes with too much risks and costs both from the patients and health ser‑ vice). How naïve it is! Then we send the patient home, as quickly as possible, and are surprised to learn that the patient is not feeling so great in the follow‑up visits. Why is that? One might say, he needs one more procedure and it may be true but in the majority of cases, the patient needs our recognition, he wants us to see him as a human not as a diseased valve, atherosclerotic vessel or infarcted myocardium. Sometimes the hon‑ est conversation is much better that repeated (painful) examinations or procedures. Obviously, we cannot change our habits in a day but maybe it is a time think once more about the patient as a subject not an applicant.In this last issue of the Journal in 2016, majority of articles is dedicated to inherited cardiac disease. We start with an interesting Review on ophthalmic manifestations in Kearns‑Sayres syndrome. Further, there is the Original paper on long‑term observation following Ross operation. Obeying our policy, the middle part is composed of four clinical cases of rare cardiovascular diseases that are presented in details and commented by the managing teams. In line with the foreword, this issue ends with the report from the joint meeting of patients with pulmonary hypertension and their families with managing physicians. (…)