History of German pediatric cardiology.

Due to the isolation of German medicine in World War II accompanied by the destruction of many hospitals, German pediatricians did not show any serious interest in the treatment of children with congenital heart diseases, nor did they take notice of the progress achieved by Helen Taussig, Alfred Blalock and other cardiologists and surgeons in the western world. This problem was even worse in East Germany. Only a few German internists and forward-looking surgeons were able and ready to take care of this group of principally operable children in places like Bonn/Düsseldorf, Marburg/Munich, Berlin, and Hamburg.

History of cardiovascular imaging procedures (as developed and/or applied in German cardiology).

The value of the four main imaging tools: radiology, magnetic resonance imaging, echocardiography and nuclear cardiology depends in the first place on physical properties which determine the spatial, temporal and density resolution and second on the conditions under which the relevant information can be obtained with respect to the diagnostic or therapeutic problem, the comfort of the investigation, the degree of invasivity and the expenses. For several decades radiology was the only available method that allowed a look into the body. Thereby, all relevant information about diseases amenable to any surgical or conservative therapy could be attained.