Jan-mar 2006 Kunye

From The Editor

Cardiology's hour upon the stage

T

he best and perhaps first role of a cardiologist occurred on stage in the year 1606 at the Globe Theater in London. A murder mystery had just opened, and our hero-actor-doctor delivered an epic, though brief, performance. Concerned about his insomniac, neurotic, obsessivecompulsive female patient, and the ranting about damned spots, the perfumes of Arabia, and her incessant washing of hands, he rendered a historically significant diagnosis. “What a sigh is there!” he said, “The heart is sorely charg’d” Thus the first identification of stress as a causative factor of cardiovascular disease. “Sorely charg’d” hearts have continued to oppress humankind since Lady Macbeth’s time. And even more so today, in terms of the incidence and lethality of cardiovascular disease. Yet the struggle against this killer continues. And today, we honor that struggle by placing Cardiology at the heart of this issue of the Turkish Pharmaceutical Business Review. The word “heart” appears more times (1047) in the works of Shakespeare than words like life (890), death (918), murder (101), blood (673), disease (30), sick (169), cure (61), health (104), doctor (95), heal (13), medicine (25), peace (547), war (261), and hate (184), but still many times fewer than love (2191).

like stem cell therapy. Consider that glorious day when our suicidal addiction to smoking is kicked, once and for all time. But as you will read, there is much public education to be done, about the importance of healthier diets, the benefits of regular exercise, and not smoking. With cardiovascular disease, prevention is indeed the best cure. It may seem strange to invoke the words of a murderer as an exhortation to the medical profession. But Macbeth, like all Shakespeare’s creations, was a complex individual. Now, his wife is dying. According to her doctor, she is “troubled with thick-coming fantasies that keep her from her rest.” Of course, she too is a monster. Still, Macbeth loves her, and tender-heartedly appeals to her physician: Cure her of that. Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas’d Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Raze out the written troubles of the brain, And with some sweet oblivious antidote Cleanse the stuff’d bosom of that perilous stuff Which weighs upon the heart? Macbeth’s words speak to all those in the field of cardiology in their quest to cleanse the bosoms of their patients of the perilous stuff of cardiovascular disease. For it is a disease of enormous complexity, one which indeed weighs upon the sorely charged hearts of far too many. 

Readers will note quickly the love and dedication of the medical practitioners featured in this issue. Truly, they are about a love’s labor, and one that is being won, not lost. Consider the advances in knowledge, technique, and technology. Imagine the possible effects of new discoveries,

James Ryan Turkish Pharmaceutical Business Review • JANUARY - MARCH 2006 • Volume 1 - Issue 2

ISSN: 1306 - 2018

Editor in Chief: ‹brahim Erdo¤an, MD • Editor: James Ryan • Art Director: Ça¤dafl Gündo¤an • Illustrator: Tansel Körükçü • Photographer: Tezcan K›ld›ran Contributors: Mark Stinson • Memet Yaz›c› • Ardan Zentürk • Gökhan Altay, MD • Burak Ravano¤lu • Sinem Soykan • Neslihan Alt›nkaya • Be¤enç Taflçanov, MD • Cavid Hamifleyev, MD

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