oa Editorial (Thematic Issue: Angiogenesis in the Development of Cardiovascular Diseases)

The role of angiogenesis in the development of cardiovascular diseases has been a great controversy in the recent past. Studies have implicated coronary angiogenesis in the heart growth whereas inhibition of angiogenesis is believed to impair cardiac growth and accelerate cardiac dysfunction. Thus it is suggested that coordinated tissue growth may be related to angiogenesis in which the heart progresses from normal to adaptive cardiac hypertrophy. This physiologic hypertrophy is possible so long as the angiogenesis process is stimulated. Heart failure ensues when angiogenesis is inhibited resulting in disruption of coordinated tissue growth.