ABSTRACT
After many years as a “Cinderella” of internal medicine, the sympathetic nervous system has moved towards center stage, particularly in the field of cardiovascular medicine. Where previously the clinical application of research on the sympathetic nervous system and catecholamines was confined largely to the diagnosis of syndromes of autonomic nervous failure and phaeochromocytoma, more recently the impact has been wide-ranging. Sympathetic nervous system activation in the pathogenesis of human heart failure, ventricular arrhythmias, and essential hypertension has been widely studied and the therapeutic value of sympathetic nervous inhibition amply demonstrated.
