Nuclear Cardiology—Strengthening our global partnerships

Excerpt

The fight against heart disease remains a global effort; an effort that ASNC recognizes will take the combined expertise of professionals worldwide to be successful in building a healthier global population. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the world. In 2008, more than 17.3 million individuals died of cardiovascular disease, accounting for 30.5% of deaths worldwide.¹ The Western Pacific, European, and Southeast Asian regions account for 4.7, 4.6, and 3.6 million of these deaths, respectively. These sobering statistics serve as a reminder that our responsibilities as health care professionals extend beyond the confines of our individual labs and communities and that the challenges we face in the United States are shared, sometimes to a much greater degree, by our colleagues abroad. …