Many of the diseases needing open heart surgery are preventable or at least partially preventable. Others are of degenerative nature and currently not really preventable. We have been pretty successful preventing rheumatic valve disease in our context as a rich country thanks to the precise diagnosis and antibiotic treatment of streptococcal infections (mainly sore throat). Our success in preventing coronary heart disease is less spectacular. Every time when performing coronary bypass surgery it’s inevitable to think of cardiovascular risk factors, such as metabolic syndrome, obesity, poorly controlled / balanced blood fats, smoking, high blood pressure. We and our partners in Interventional Cardiology got pretty good in repairing the various life-threatening sequelae of coronary heart disease (and other diseases, as well), which is without doubt an excellent achievement of modern medicine. In fact, current medicine is primarily focused on precise, diagnosis and effective treatment. With an explosion in understanding physiology and pathophysiology down to cellular, molecular and genetical level, focus is shifting. The emerging medical discipline is prevention. Not only prevention of one or a series of diseases but preventing cells and tissues to stray off their path of healthy function embracing the inevitable biological process by aiming for a healthy aging to the highest possible degree.
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