German Society for Arteriosclerosis Research – Why?

M. Hanefeld and H. Hahmann

Medical disciplines need their professional societies. The rapid growth in membership and congress activity of, for example, the German Society of Cardiology is well known to many. But against this backdrop, what do smaller, interdisciplinary, cross-networking societies like the German Society for Arteriosclerosis Research (DGAF) contribute?

Certainly, the intention is not to establish a specialist physician for arteriosclerotic diseases. The founders of the DGAF, the internist Werner H. Hauss from Münster and the physiologist Eberhard Betz from Tübingen, aimed to combine the expertise of theoretical disciplines such as pathological anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and, more recently, molecular biology and cell biology, with the challenges faced by clinicians in the fields of cardiology, angiology, hemostasiology, laboratory medicine, and also neurology. All of these specialties are involved, in some respects, with one of the most important, if not the most significant, groups of diseases in industrialized countries: arteriosclerosis. Since the interest of cardiovascular researchers up to that point had focused more on the pathophysiological foundations than on clinical and therapeutic approaches, the founding of the DGAF closed the gap to the causal pathogenesis and its preventive implications.

Under these circumstances, something remarkable happened: a young, non-hierarchical society concerned with highly specialized topics has achieved considerable scientific significance. This is evident, among other things, in the establishment of an annual conference held in the guesthouse of the University of Tübingen in Blaubeuren, where approximately 250 participants present 100 to 130 original contributions of a high standard. This publication activity demonstrates the society's high research potential, which is young in two senses: 80% of its members are under 40, and its chronological age is just twelve years. In this short time, it has made a significant contribution to closing the gap in experimental arteriosclerosis research in Germany compared to the USA, England, and other countries, and, with numerous innovative contributions, has approached its former glory, insofar as this is possible under the changed conditions of a rapidly growing field of research. Much of the experimental know-how and new knowledge developed in this field has – to a large extent also by individuals – been incorporated into the work of major professional societies, and vice versa.

The German Society for Aortic Angiology (DGAF) is also the German section of the International Atherosclerosis Society (IAS), whose activities include developing guidelines for cardiovascular prevention. This task is complicated by the coexistence of several current international guidelines and by differing regional priorities worldwide. The national sections of the IAS are therefore tasked with developing guidelines adapted to regional needs. However, this should not simply lead to an expansion of the already extensive list of guidelines circulating in Germany. The achievement of prevention goals can only be promoted by consolidating and updating the recommendations of all national societies on cardiovascular prevention as comprehensively as possible. The DGAF will contribute to this effort in fulfillment of its mandate from the IAS.

Here, too, the value of a society dedicated to combating arteriosclerotic diseases becomes clear: The exponentially growing body of knowledge about atherogenesis and the manifestations of these diseases, emerging from all directions, is difficult to grasp, even more difficult to interpret, and seemingly almost impossible to translate into practical therapy, whether due to health economics or a lack of consensus. All too often, under this pretext, despite the high specificity and considerable economic investment in our healthcare system, the drug-based secondary prophylaxis of coronary heart disease and other cardiovascular arteriosclerotic diseases, based on sound scientific knowledge, is neglected.

Communicating the state of arteriosclerosis research to clinicians using an interdisciplinary approach, helping to differentiate between experimental treatment approaches on the one hand and evidence-based therapeutic obligations on the other, and thus bridging the gap between knowledge and practical therapy, will be an important task for the future, to which the German Society for Arteriosclerosis Research can contribute.

(As of 2001)