This monograph had its genesis in a workshop on the specific conduction held in the spring of 1975. The meeting was organized to discuss present knowledge on structure and function of the cardiac specialized tissues with emphasis on their clinical implications. Since much new information was presented, the participants agreed to prepare manuscripts and make their material available for publication. This has resulted in a book in which the cardiac specialized tissues are discussed by different specialists: the electron-microscopist, anatomist, pathologist, physiologist, physicist and...

The interplay between the careful analysis of clinical electrocardiograms and results from animal experiments have in the past 60 years resulted in provo- cative and brill ant concepts on the mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias in man. Many of the animal experiments however were done on open-chested dogs with cut cardiac nerves and under the influence of pharmaca. It is doubtful, therefore whether these results can be transferred without reser- vation to the human situation. The introduction of electrical stimulation of the heart in clinical cardiology has opened new ways to study some aspects...

The saying, "What one does not know, one does not recognize", applies to the interpretation of the electrocardiogram. Recently a wealth of new information on the electrocardiogram has become avail- able by correlating electrocardiographic findings with information from new techniques such as His bundle recordings, programmed stimulation of the heart, 24-hour record- ing~, and cardiac scintigraphy. Also, our knowledge about the electrocardiogram has been extended by acquiring new epidemiologic data and by follow-up studies on patients with myocardial infarction and bundle branch block....