The current issue of the European Heart Journal is devoted to acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and coronary intervention. The editors were fortunate as prominent cardiologists from the Benelux countries (in close collaboration with the editors of our journal) agreed to summarize for 2014 the most important advances in these important subspecialties of cardiology together. The European Society of Cardiology and the European Heart Journal recently emphasized the importance of this topic, publishing guidelines on revascularization,1 those on the management of acute myocardial infarction in patients presenting with ST-segment elevation in 2012,2 and a year earlier those on ACS in patients presenting without persistent ST-segment elevation.3 Considerable progress has been made in the understanding and management of these syndromes. In particular, it appears that inflammatory changes may play an important role as the substrate and trigger of acute coronary events.4,5 Furthermore, novel stents are currently under investigation as novel platforms and scaffolds.6,7 In this issue of the European Heart Journal these developments are reviewed and novel data are presented relevant to the understanding and management of these conditions. ‘The year in cardiology 2014 in acute coronary syndromes' has been thoughtfully reviewed by Frans Van de Werf and Filippo Crea from Leuven and Rome, respectively.8 The authors provide an overview of the key findings published in 2014, and offer a perspective on future research on the pathophysiology, early diagnosis, prognosis, and acute and long-term treatment of ACS covering all types of non-ST-segment elevation and ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI and STEMI). Of note, few data …