CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 25, No 3, May/June 2014
AFRICA
95
From the Editor’s Desk
Alas, this is my last time writing ‘From the Editor’s Desk’. The
CVJA has a new editor-in-chief, Prof Patrick Commerford. He
succeeds Prof AJ Brink, a founder of this journal and editor-
in-chief until his death in October 2012. From the July/August
issue, Prof Commerford will be responsible for overseeing the
processing of articles through the editorial system, sourcing
original articles where necessary, writing editorials, and
maintaining the high standard of the journal.
CVJA is now in its 25th year, a quarter of a century old, and
this event is soon to be celebrated. However, we certainly had a
rocky ride after the death of Prof AJ Brink at 89, which, although
not untimely, created an unanticipated void. We are certain Prof
Commerford will create a smoother ride for all at the journal
offices.
Prof Commerford is a well-respected clinician, educator,
scientist, and an organiser and administrator. He has served
on national medical and scientific bodies, even heading some.
He has extensive experience in medical scientific writing and
reviewing, and also, to the benefit of the journal, experience as
an editor. I will remain intimately involved in the business side
of the journal, maintaining it as a stable and financially viable
venture.
Prof Commerford has served on the editorial boards of a
number of journals, including CVJA. He recently retired as
professor and head of the cardiology unit at Groote Schuur
Hospital, where he occupied the Helen and Morris Mauerberger
chair.
For this issue, we have as usual, reviews, original articles and
case studies, the latter only available on the web. Scolch
et al
.
touts the virtues of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging.
CMR is certainly impressive but one must remember that if the
mountain cannot go to Mohamed, Mohamed must go to the
mountain. In that regard, echocardiographic machines will not
easily be replaced. They are cheaper and very mobile. You can
take them to your patient in your rooms, the clinic, ward, ICU,
theatre, and in distant places.
As a review article, Pop
et al
. (page 137) addresses non-
standard markers of cardiovascular risk in women, teasing out
from other studies factors pertaining to woman.
Among the original studies, we have articles ranging from
isolated perfused rat hearts and preconditioning in the basic
science laboratory (Kelly-Laubscher
et al
., page 118) to platelet
morphology and myocardial perfusion in patients with diabetes
mellitus from the clinical laboratory (Sarikaya
et al
., page 110).
From catastrophic carbon monoxide poisoning we learn of the
effects on cardiac repolarisation (Eroglu
et al
., page 106).
For the surgically minded, the safety of simultaneous coronary
artery bypass grafting and carotid endarterectomy is described
(Aydin
et al
., page 130). There is an observational study on
quality of life in patients with atherosclerosis obliterance versus
those with Buerger’s disease (Karakoyun
et al
., page 124).
We trust that you will enjoy this issue.
PAUL A BRINK, MB ChB, PhD,
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences,
University of Stellenbosch and Tygerberg Hospital, Tygerberg
Prof Commerford,
MB ChB, FCP (SA)
