[Review: Patient safety as a national health goal: current state and essential fields of action for the German healthcare system].

For some years patient safety has been an important topic for the design of the healthcare systems in many countries. In Germany we are still in the starting phase of this development. Here, patient safety is not a main focus for research and there is only little funding for these topics.

[Microcatheter in neuroradiology].

The application of neuroradiologic microcatheters may be beneficial for the patient as well as preoperative intervention or as sole therapeutical procedure. However, it is associated with a relatively high procedural risk, which is also supported by critical dimensions of the microcatheter. It is regrettable, that to some extent, the performance of manufacturers of microcatheters stay below today's technical possibilities.