Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest (COIs) is used by biomedical journals to guarantee credibility and transparency of the scientific process. Conflict of interest disclosure, however, is not systematically nor consistently dealt with by journals. Recent joint editorial efforts paved the way towards the implementation of uniform vehicles for COI disclosure. This paper provides a comprehensive editorial perspective on classical COI-related issues. New insights into the current COI policies and practices among European Society of Cardiology National Cardiovascular Journals, as derived from a cross-sectional survey using a standardized questionnaire, are discussed.

Coronary arteries of anomalous origin with subsequent coursing between the aorta and pulmonary trunk can cause ischaemia, infarction or sudden death. However, reports of surgical correction are sparse due to the rarity of ante-mortem diagnosis. We report two cases in which symptoms were related to anomalous origin of a non-atherosclerotic coronary artery. Surgical repair was performed to prevent sudden death or recurrent ischaemia.

We describe a young man with Behçet's disease who presented with acute coronary insufficiency: emergency coronary arteriography revealed 2 coronary aneurysms and a left anterior descending (LAD) artery stenosis which was successfully dilated. The reduction of the coronary stenosis by balloon angioplasty induced immediate relief of chest pain and decrease of ST segment elevation, and was probably responsible for the satisfactory evolution, with limited myocardial infarction on the ECG and no akinetic segment on the left ventricular angiogram 3 weeks after the acute event. Cardiac surgery was performed to avoid possible relapse or aneurysmal rupture with hemopericardium. Surgery confirmed the destructive arterial lesion of Behçet's disease with false aneurysms of the LAD and left circumflex arteries.

When the left anterior descending coronary artery follows an anomalous course between the aorta and pulmonary artery it can cause myocardial ischaemia or sudden death during exercise in young people. Coronary arteriography in a 27 year old man with angina pectoris at rest showed a left anterior descending coronary artery arising from a common right trunk and running from the aorta to the pulmonary artery. Follow up after revascularisation was uneventful.

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