Patologia cardiovascolare

This basic text on the heart and heart diseases is geared to everyone on the cardiovascular care team, including emergency personnel, interns, residents, nurses, patients, and families. The thoroughly updated Second Edition describes current technologies for noninvasive diagnosis and treatment of coronary and vascular disease. The coverage includes a complete description of echocardiographic stress testing and new information on implanted defibrillators, indications for coronary arteriography, new drugs for heart failure, new cardiac resuscitation procedures, and use of ventricular synchronizing pacemakers. Also included are discussions of recently discovered lethal entities such as Brugada's syndrome, short QT syndrome, and the arrhythmogenic ventricle.

This handbook - which has been formally adopted by the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust - is a homunculus of cardiology knowledge, based on the experience of the authors with the sole aim of helping the reader make a decision when faced with the daily challenges of cardiology. Living in an age where access to the latest trial data is immediate, for many people lack of knowledge is not the problem, instead it is inadequate experience that holds them back from making a decision based on that knowledge. The editor calls this 'evidence based paralysis' - sometimes you don't want to know what a group of experts decided in the latest trial but simply want to know what to do next. Obviously there is no substitute for experience but to help you along the way this book will help you 'get off the fence' and indicate what the authors have done in similar situations.

Using an evidence-based approach, the authors present a detailed overview of the syndrome of heart failure. They examine the causes, pathophysiology, investigation, diagnosis, and treatment (pharmacological and non-pharmacological) with emphasis on recently-published studies. Chapters focus on antiarrhythmic and antithrombotic therapy, beta blockers and inotropes, and other vasodilators such as nitrates and calcium channel blockers. The book is fully illustrated throughout with color photographs and radiographic, electrocardiogram, and echocardiogram images. It will be of interest to cardiologists and general physicians in training, general practitioners, cardiac technicians and nurses, and medical students.

Using an easy-to-understand, step-by-step approach, this full-color text describes how to interpret 12-lead ECGs and recognize Acute Coronary Syndromes. It includes the latest research, along with the 2000 guidelines for emergency cardiovascular care. New case studies, illustrations, tables, and over 100 12-lead ECGs offer readers the opportunity to apply their knowledge. Its need-to-know information helps students become proficient in the fundamentals of Acute Coronary Syndrome recognition and management, for both hospital and prehospital environments.

This is a cutting-edge review of the latest findings on key scientific topics and the best strategies for evaluation and management of portal hypertension in the clinic. Writing in an easy-to-read style, the authors review its pathobiology, the progress being made in its experimental understanding, the methodologies to assess it in humans, the treatment of its complications (esophageal varices, ascites, and hepatorenal syndrome), and its treatment in special circumstances (during pregnancy, in children, or when the portal vein is blocked). They also provide in-depth coverage of the pros and cons of the various therapeutic choices available to the clinician managing patients with complicated portal hypertension.

This important and timely book comprises the comprehensive and authoritative independent report of the British Nutrition Foundation Task Force on the link between emerging aspects of diet and cardiovascular disease, a major cause of early death and disability. Written by leading experts in the area, "Cardiovascular Disease: Diet, Nutrition and Emerging Risk Factors" looks further than the well recognised factors, such as high blood cholesterol and smoking to identify and explore more subtle markers of risk. Chapters include coverage of novel lipid factors, vascular function, clotting factors, inflammatory factors, oxidative stress and homocysteine and early origins of adult disease. The impact of obesity, insulin resistance, genetic predisposition and factors related to adipose tissue are also addressed. Of vital use to a wide range of health professionals, this cutting-edge book provides the reader with: core information for health professionals, as well as those involved in food formulation in the food industry; a dedicated question and answer chapter; and important conclusions and recommendations with 'take-home messages'. Dietitians, nutritionists, general and family practitioners, cardiologists, cardiovascular specialists, community nurses, personnel in the food industry involved in product formulation, production, labelling of packaging and marketing will find this a valuable reference. Lecturers, undergraduates and postgraduates in nutrition, dietetics, food science and medicine; libraries in all research establishments, commercial organisations, medical schools and universities where these subjects are studied or taught will also find this an important addition to their shelves.

Until recently, the cellular basis for sudden death, the Brugada Syndrome, has largely remained an unknown to modern arrhythmologists and cardiologists, particularly in the absence of any structural heart disease. Detailed observations of age-groups, especially the young, families and populations where sudden death frequently occurs, and improved understanding of its contributory factors and mechanisms are, however, showing the way forward. This addition to the "Clinical Approaches to Tachyarrhythmias (CATA) Series", written by the investigators who discovered and probed the Brugada Syndrome, discusses the history, etiology, pathology and clinical manifestations of sudden death.From diagnosis, prognosis, to therapeutic approaches using the latest in cathater ablation techniques, electrophysiological surgery, and genetic appraisal, the work is a testimony to the author's investigation. Using clinical cases in Thailand and Laos, they further unravel the syndrome's molecular mechanisms, studying related syndromes, such as the long-QT syndrome, infant death, and arryhthmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. By being informed of the electrophysiological abnormalities that contribute to familial and genetic diseases, physicians, cardiologists and all those who care for patients with cardiac arrhythmias will be better able to identify and treat patients in whom the Brugada Syndrome may strike next.