CardioVascular and Interventional Radiology (CVIR) is published by Springer-Verlag New York Inc. and is the official journal of the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe the Japanese Society of Angiography and Interventional Radiology and the British Society of Interventional Radiology. CVIR publishes peer-reviewed original research work including laboratory and clinical investigations technical notes case reports brief communications letters-to-the-editor as well as review articles opinions and editorials in the field of cardiac vascular and interventional radiology. The journal has a distinctly international character which is reflected in the establishment of Editorial Offices in various parts of the world each of which conducts its own peer review.