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Previous Volume 357:1767-1768 October 25, 2007 Number 17 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Cardiac fibrosis, or scarring in the heart, has been believed for decades to be an irreversible process that leads to functional disturbances of the myocardium and ultimately results in abnormalities of cardiac contractility (systolic dysfunction) and of relaxation (diastolic dysfunction). In fact, an axiom in cardiology has been that "you cannot make a scar squeeze." A recent study by Zeisberg and colleagues¹ indicates that, like many "sure things" in medicine and science, we must reconsider whether the development of cardiac fibrosis and the untoward effects it has on cardiac function are indeed irreversible.

Cardiac fibrosis has several causes, including ischemia . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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From the Section of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital, Houston.

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