This book is an edited compilation of the scientific presentations given at a symposium on cardiovascular hemodynamics and the contemporary practice of cardiology which was organized in Malta, April 1989. The field of cardio vascular medicine has undergone an extraordinary explosion of knowledge regarding the basic biology of the heart and circulation in health and disease, as well as technologic innovations for probing and assessing cardiac geometry and physiology. This edition addresses such issues which are key problems in current management of patients with heart disease. For example, the...

Knowledge of cardiac ion channels and transporters has advanced remarkably in the last two decades with the development of patch-clamp and molecular biological techniques. This textbook offers a comprehensive overview of structures and functions of ion channels and transporters in the heart. Readers are first introduced to the molecular biology and electrophysiology of all the important ion channels. After discussing their developmental changes, the pharmacology and pathophysiology of clinically-relevant ion channels are reviewed. Molecular aspects of the cardiac excitation-contraction...

AMI E. ISKANDRIAN & ERNST E. VAN DER WALL The first edition of this book was published in 1994. Since then important advances have occurred in the field of myocardial viability. This, coupled with increasing interest by the scientific community in the broader issues of its relevance to patient care, suggested to us the need to write the second edition. We are most fortunate to have the help of a distinguished group of experts who have helped shape the field; we appreciate their commitments and contributions. Almost all chapters have been radically modified. Chapter 1 deals with...

Noninvasive electrocardiographic monitoring is a fundamental part of cardiology. Depending on continuous improvements and developments of new technologies, these methods are essential for diagnosis and risk stratification of patients. The rapid changes in the capabilities, technologies and diagnostic values of the different methods force us to update our knowledge continuously.
This book offers a comprehensive overview of the current state and future developments in the field of noninvasive electrocardiographic monitoring techniques. In addition, related fields such as...

The definite treatment ofaortic disorders goes back to the resection ofisthmic coarctation by Clarence Crafoord in 1944. It took another third of a century until all portionsofthe aortabecameaccessible to highly standardized surgery. This progress, delayed as it was in relation to most other cardiovascular in- terventions, depended on the availability of safe protective methods for the heart and central nervous system, of reliable vascular grafts and atraumatic instruments, novel suture material and tissue adhesives. The development ofadvanced surgical techniques went hand in hand with, and...

What's New in Cardiovascular Imaging is a bibliographical "image" of a Symposium held June 22-24, 1998 in Leiden, the Netherlands. At this Symposium all the major advances in car- diovascular imaging in all the cardiovascular imaging modalities (X-ray, (intravascular) ultra- sound, magnetic resonance, scintigraphy and CT) were addressed by the leading authorities in this field. Based on the presentations of the invited Faculty, this book consists of a compi- lation of manuscripts related to most of the topics discussed at this particular meeting. We express our gratitude to all authors and...

Europace '97 was held in Athens, Greece, on 8-11 June Leads were, as usual, an important topic, with the earl 1997 in the city of classical civilisation and learning. iest mention of the then-new polyurethane leads. Future Though now held in modem surroundings and meeting conferences elaborated on these basic topics while pro facilities, the influence of the ancient city-state was un gressively adding sensors and sensor function, dual mistakable, with the architecture and learning of antiquity chamber pacing, and recognising the development of looming over the city, by its influence over the...

Interest in the ability of myocardium to adapt to ischaemic stress has continued to grow since the discovery of ischaemic preconditioning in 1986. In 1993, two reports heralded the recognition of a delayed preconditioning response in the heart, now commonly known as the 'second window' of protection. Since then, a number of studies have described the ability of delayed preconditioning and related adaptive phenomena to protect against a variety of pathologies in the ischaemic and reperfused myocardium. Our understanding of the cellular mechanisms of sub-acute adaptive cardioprotection...

It is indeed ironical that in the absence of a complete knowledge of Pathophysiology, clinical cardiologists are left with no choice but to do the best they can to help the patient with the armamentarium of drugs at their disposal. But nothing could be further from truth than to treat the diagnosed end point of a disease process without a full understanding of its patho physiology. This point was eloquently made by Dr. Arnold Katz in his Presidential Address (Chapter 1) at the 8th Annual Meeting of the American Section of the International Society for Heart Research held in Winnipeg, Canada,...

In the era of instant global communication, medicine is an international discipline characterized by a wide range of patient referral systems, world-wide discussion of clinical and research findings, and an explosion in the medical literature. Perhaps no field has progressed more than cardiology in the past few years.
Contemporary Concepts in Cardiology has been conceived as a supplement to the classic cardiology textbooks for the use of practicing physicians, cardiologists-in-training, medical students, and research investigators. This volume focuses on associations between...