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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2004;26:461-462
© 2004 Elsevier Science NL
Letter to the Editor |
a Denia, Alicante, Spain
b Clinic for Cardiac Surgery, Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, UC Clinical Centre of Serbia, 8th Kosta Todorovic St., 11000 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro
c Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
d Department of Cardiology, Cardiac Imaging Unit, Hospital Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
Received 26 April 2004; accepted 27 April 2004.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +381-11-367-0609; fax: +381-11-361-0880
e-mail: kocica{at}sezampro.yu
Key Words: Ventricle • Anatomy • Myocardium • Physiology
We are delighted that our article [1] attracted the interest of a world-wide expert of cardiac morphology like you Prof. Anderson and, despite your evident nihilism, we appreciate your input. We also totally agree with you that the readers should be protected from unproven statements, and therefore we take this opportunity to provide further arguments in favor of our hypothesis.
In support of this, we will cite a sentence from, so often mentioned, Streeter's seminal work [2]: "It was not until the middle of this century that two researches, separately established valid, reliable methods. They were Torrent-Guasp, with his principal ‘fiber path’ method of blunt dissection, and Hort, with his micrometric method trough wall blocks." As the first author (Torrent-Guasp) was his personal friend and close associate, having published several papers together, we feel obliged to say that Daniel Streeter was the brightest example of integrative person, capable to unify (not to confront) different approaches, as those of classical and contemporary anatomists, thus creating a valuable mainstream in exploring the ‘Gross morphology and fiber architecture of the heart’ [2].
An independent empirical testability is the hallmark of science. Again, it was just Dainel Streeter who had described the techniuqe of unraveling ventricular myocardial band ‘reliable and reproducible’ stating that accepting ‘statistical criterion of the principal fiber direction at given point’ may accomodate factual difficulties, arising from complex and anisotropic myocardial architectural design [2]. Whether we like it or not, from Vesalius to nowadays, the ‘destructive approach of dissection’ has been the one used by all the anatomists born in this world, during the last five centuries. But, should our minds be as destructive as our fingers? Classical anatomists, were simply unable to find any architectural plan able to join, in a coherent whole, all fibers comprising the ventricular mass. Therefore ‘the previous accounts of the architecture of the ventricular mass’ are not deficient — they just do not exist as such. In spite of that, without extensive knowledge of the work of classical anatomists, we surely wouldn't be able to realize the architectural plan of the ventricular myocardium.
Unavoidable coherence and mutual coupling of form and function exist in the entire ventricular myocardium. In order to emphasize the importance of structure-function relationships of the intact ventricles, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute convened a workshop entitled ‘Form and Function: New Views on Development, Diseases and Therapies for the Heart’, which was promoted and developed around the anatomical concept of the ventricular myocardial band [1].
From this point, further, there were many scientifical papers published, confirming the validity of ventricular myocardial band concept [3–5]. Diffusion Tensor MRI, as rapid, highly resolutive, non-destructive methodology, has confirmed both histological structure [3] and macroscopical design of the ventricular myocardium [4,5]. Moreover, those analyses have also confirmed some crucial functional correlates [3–5], derived from the specifical spatial organization of the ventricular myocardium, as described in our article [1].
Even if we understand that, in your view, we moved the Sun at the center of the Universe, instead of the Earth, time will tell.
Footnotes
1 URL: www.ctsnet.org/home/mkocica 
References
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