On the occasion of the inauguration of the Department of Heart Surgery at the Rehabilitation Center in Bad Krozingen, we held under the aus­ pices of the European Society of Cardiology an International Symposium on March 17 to 18, 1978 with the topic: . "Coronary Heart Surgery - a Rehabilitation Measure" This book contains the papers given at that time. The editors of this book, together with the other members of the sci­ entific committee - H. Denolin from Brussels, Ch. Hahn from Geneva, and F. Loogen from DUsseldorf - aimed at selecting controversial top­ ics as well as speakers representing different viewpoints. Thus avoid­ ing portrayal of an image of a world of coronary bypass surgery in which all problems have found a solution. In keeping with the topic of the meeting, special emphasis was drawn to the long-term functional results of aortocoronary bypass surgery; symptomatic imprQvement be­ ing, in most patients, significant enough and lasting for at least some years, thus allowing the patients to return to work. However, a combination of social, economic, and psychological factors may hamper optimal rehabilitation, as can be seen from some of the following papers. The incorporation of heart surgery into a rehabilitation center - being the motif of this symposium - may hopefully stimulate a global approach to cardiac rehabilitation which includes surgical, medical, psychological, vocational, and social rehabilitation mea­ sures. Bad Krozingen, January 1979 H. Roskamm M. Schmuziger Table of Contents 1.