It was not until the second half of the 20th century that anything other than palliative treatment could be offered to patients suffering from various pathologies (such as atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction) that resulted in compromised coronary flow and consequent myocardial ischemia. If the ischemia and the affected tissue mass were sufficiently great, then mortality figures were high, usually as a consequence of contractile failure or lethal arrhythmias. However, during the second half of the 20th century, four independent and very different streams of research were initiated and would culminate in the ability, by a variety of means, to reperfuse the ischemic human heart, with the attendant reduction in mortality. These remarkable and differing reperfusion technologies also lead to cardiological “turf wars” aimed in part at winning the hearts and revenue of the millions of patients suffering from ischemic heart disease...