title: Exploring unknowns in cardiology.
abstract: To mark the 10th anniversary of Nature Reviews Cardiology in November 2014, five of our Advisory Board members were invited to consider a topic within cardiology about which we know too little. A diverse range of subjects are highlighted in this Perspectives article, including preoperative assessment of right ventricular function, the burden of cardiomyopathies in Africa, the measurement of fractional flow reserve to guide coronary intervention, the interaction between genes and environment in cardiovascular disease, and the difficulty of predicting atherosclerotic plaque rupture. The five key opinion leaders from around the globe also suggest ways in which future research could be targeted to address the deficits in our understanding, with the aim of preventing cardiovascular disease, improving patient care, and reducing morbidity and mortality.
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Surgery Department, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina, 58, 20132 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Ottavio
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Alfieri
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, J Floor, Old Groote Schuur Hospital, Groote Schuur Drive, Observatory 7925, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Bongani M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Mayosi
authors.affiliation: Asan Medical Center, 86 Asanbyeongwon-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul 138-736, South Korea.
authors.forename: Seung-Jung
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Centre, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Khorram Avenue, PO Box 81465-1148, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Nizal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sarrafzadegan
authors.affiliation: CVPath Institute Inc., 19 Firstfield Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USA.
authors.forename: Renu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Virmani
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D002309:Cardiology / Q000639:trends*; D053805:Fractional Flow Reserve, Myocardial; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D018497:Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / Q000601:surgery