In Groningen there has been a continuous investigation of hypertrophic
cardio- myopathy for almost twenty years. Members of this working-group
have tried to study the many aspects of this intriguing disease, and it
is in this volume that they present their recent results and current
concepts (chapters 2, 3, 5 and 6). A contribution from the Dutch
interuniversity Institute of Cardiology presenting a detailed account of
evaluation by means of radionuclide techniques completes the
non-invasive picture of cardiomyopathies (chapter 4). On July 6th, 1984,
a symposium entitled 'Recent views on hypertrophic cardio- myopathy' was
held at the University Hospital Groningen. The main reason to organize
this meeting was the retirement of one of our working-group members,
namely E. van der Wall, as head of the cardiological department. The
speakers at the symposium presented their lectures based on their
contributions to this book. It is an honour for us to have obtained
their full cooperation for this book and for the symposium. We are very
grateful that this Groningen manifestation could include the outstanding
contributions of several well-known experts from abroad. We there- fore
thank our colleagues Profs. Epstein, Goodwin, Kaltenbach and Schulte for
their spontaneous and valuable cooperation (chapters 1, 7,8 and 9).
Thanks to their efforts especially, this book has acquired the
international character that the study of this subject deserves.