As the majority of cardiovascular deaths are related to myocardial ischemia, it is necessary to understand the various aspects of ischemic heart disease. In this regard, it is noteworthy that ischemic heart disease is commonly associated with atherosclerosis, coronary spasm, as well as thrombosis leading to the development of arrhythmias, cardiovascular cell damage, myocardial infarction, cardiac hypertrophy and congestive heart failure. Furthermore, it is also important to appreciate various physiological, electrophysiological and biochemical processes in the normal heart if we are to...

Cardiac Ischemia: From Injury to Protection has been divided into six parts. The first part describes the differences between hypoxia and ischemia, animal models, the effects of ischemia on myocardial function and metabolism, and the electrophysiological consequences of ischemia. The second part deals with the mechanisms of cardiomyocyte death in ischemia, structural aspects of irreversible ischemic injury, necrosis and apoptosis of cardiac cells, the role of calcium, and the concept of calcium antagonism. The third chapter is a brief description of reperfusion injury, its clinical...

In 1982, as chance would have it again, an opportunity appeared to Jom the Department of Physiology at Kuwait University. P. Braveny spend four years there, teaching, doing some research, recovering former international contacts. Coming back home, he faced the same gloomy, motionless disfavor as before. November 1989 turned P. Bravenfs career upside down. Immediately after the fall ofthe communist regime, he was elected vice-dean and later dean ofthe Faculty of Medicine, promoted full professor in physiology and appointed the head of the Department ofPhysiology. From 1992 to 1998 P. Braveny...