[Cardiovascular radiology].

Some fifty years ago, the first attempts to visualize cardiac cavities by X-ray were reported, and a few years later right heart catheterization was performed by a physician on himself. After the Second World War, major new developments in cardiothoracic surgery, anesthesiology and extracorporeal circulation allowed surgeons to investigate a new field: cardiac surgery. For successful surgery it was mandatory to establish an exact preoperative diagnosis of congenital and acquired cardiopathies; physicians and engineers developed catheterization techniques which allowed hemodynamic data to be collected. Sophisticated radiologic equipment was designed and cardiovascular radiology was born. A quarter-century after the first cardiac surgery, a new era of treatment for cardiovascular diseases has been opened up with the development of interventional radiology. Gastrointestinal and pulmonary hemorrhages can be treated by occlusion of the feeding artery. Angina pectoris, impending infarct, hypertension and claudication can nowadays be treated not only by vascular surgery but also by interventional radiology using techniques such as balloon angioplasty. Percutaneous revascularization techniques are now under study for the benefit of the patient whose cardiovascular disease can be cured or improved with a hospital stay of one or two days, without surgical intervention or anesthesia.