This monograph focuses on splanchnic function in health and disease. It represents a distillate of the communication that took place at the First International Symposium of Applied Physiol ogy of the Peripheral Circulation, "Splanchnic Circulation: No Longer a Silent Partner." The individual chapters roughly follow the individual presentations and display in durable form the con cepts and importance that this symposium achieved. The concept for this annual symposium was the child of An tonio Artigas, who not only recruited sponsorship but also Jean Francois Dhainaut and me to help with the organization and work. We chose the splanchnic circulation as the peripheral cir culatory system to be presented first for many important reasons. Much new information has become available which demon strates, as the title of the symposium implies, that splanchnic function has major influence on the overall expression of health and disease in humans. All aspects of splanchnic physiology, it seems, have been rediscovered to be dynamic, important, and complex in their interactions within individual tissues and among remote tissues and organs. It is hoped that after having reviewed this monograph the reader will agree that the splanchnic circula tion and its organ systems are emerging as important aspects of critical illness and host-defense homeostasis."

The coronary circulation is central to sustaining myocardial viability. Unlike the cir culations of most other organs, if the coronary circulation becomes insufficient to sustain myocardial contractile function, overall quality of life rapidly declines and life can abruptly end. In partnership with the cerebral circulation, the coronary circula tion plays a central role in sustaining life. However, unlike the cerebral circulation, whose function is self-sufficient to define life, the coronary circulation determines global blood flow and thus the initial state for the remainder of the body. This unique condition, together with the reality that coronary artery disease primarily affects peo ple in their productive years of life, has allowed physicians and scientists who study the heart to enjoy a privileged position in the field of medical research and clinical practice. Thus, it comes as little surprise that many new and exciting research developments involving the coronary circulation have recently come to the forefront of medical thinking. This reality, coupled with the large number of clinical trials of agents specif ically designed to sustain or improve coronary flow in many disease states, makes the timing of this monograph relevant. The book features papers presented at a recent international symposium, the fourth in a series of meetings on Applied Physiology of the Peripheral Circulation. The papers selected by the editors review the most impor tant advances in the fields of cardiology and the coronary circulation."