This open access book presents a comprehensive overview of dilated cardiomyopathy, providing readers with practical guidelines for its clinical management. The first part of the book analyzes in detail the disease’s pathophysiology, its diagnostic work up as well as the prognostic stratification, and illustrates the role of genetics and gene-environment interaction. The second part presents current and future treatment options, highlighting the importance of long-term and individualized treatments and follow-up. Furthermore, it discusses open issues, such as the apparent healing phenomenon, the early prognosis of arrhythmic events or the use of genetic testing in clinical practice. Offering a multidisciplinary approach for optimizing the clinical management of DCM, this book is an invaluable aid not only for the clinical cardiologists, but for all physicians involved in the care of this challenging disease.
In the last decade, genetics has been emerging as a primary issue in the diagnosis and management of cardiomyopathies. This book is intended to be a state-of-the-art monograph on these diseases, describing their genetic causes, defining the molecular basis and presenting extensive descriptions of genotype–phenotype correlations. Other chapters are focused on the role of clinical observation, on ECG and echocardiography. With its highlight on the most recent discoveries in the field of molecular genetics as well as on the correct clinical approach to patients with heart muscle disease, the book is aimed at physicians and clinical cardiologists with a particular interest in myocardial diseases and in their genetic causes.
Diagnosis and Management of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is aunique, multi-authored compendium of information regarding thecomplexities of clinical and genetic diagnosis, natural history,and management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)—the mostcommon and important of the genetic cardiovasculardiseases—as well as related issues impacting the health oftrained athletes. Edited by Dr. Barry J. Maron, a world authority on HCM, and withmajor contributions from all of the international experts in thisfield, this book provides a single comprehensive source ofinformation concerning HCM. Recent advances in the field arediscussed, including the importance of left ventricular outflowtract obstruction, the use of implantable defibrillators for theprevention of sudden death in young people, definition of thegenetic basis for HCM and its role in clinical diagnosis and riskstratification, the development of more precise strategies forassessing the level of risk for sudden death among all patientswith HCM, and the evolution of invasive interventions for heartfailure symptoms, such as surgical management and its alternatives(alcohol septal ablation and dual-chamber pacing). Key Features: Contributions from all experts in the field,representing diverse viewpoints regarding this heterogeneousdisease and related issues in athletes Information to dispel misunderstandings regarding issuesassociated with HCM and cardiovascular disease in athletes The only comprehensive source of information available on thetopic
Cellular and Molecular Pathobiology of Cardiovascular Disease focuses on the pathophysiology of common cardiovascular disease in the context of its underlying mechanisms and molecular biology. This book has been developed from the editors' experiences teaching an advanced cardiovascular pathology course for PhD trainees in the biomedical sciences, and trainees in cardiology, pathology, public health, and veterinary medicine. No other single text-reference combines clinical cardiology and cardiovascular pathology with enough molecular content for graduate students in both biomedical research and clinical departments. The text is complemented and supported by a rich variety of photomicrographs, diagrams of molecular relationships, and tables. It is uniquely useful to a wide audience of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in areas from pathology to physiology, genetics, pharmacology, and more, as well as medical residents in pathology, laboratory medicine, internal medicine, cardiovascular surgery, and cardiology. - Explains how to identify cardiovascular pathologies and compare with normal physiology to aid research - Gives concise explanations of key issues and background reading suggestions - Covers molecular bases of diseases for better understanding of molecular events that precede or accompany the development of pathology
Cardiomyopathies: New Insights for the Healthcare Professional: 2013 Edition is a ScholarlyEditions™ book that delivers timely, authoritative, and comprehensive information about Diagnosis and Screening. The editors have built Cardiomyopathies: New Insights for the Healthcare Professional: 2013 Edition on the vast information databases of ScholarlyNews.™ You can expect the information about Diagnosis and Screening in this book to be deeper than what you can access anywhere else, as well as consistently reliable, authoritative, informed, and relevant. The content of Cardiomyopathies: New Insights for the Healthcare Professional: 2013 Edition has been produced by the world’s leading scientists, engineers, analysts, research institutions, and companies. All of the content is from peer-reviewed sources, and all of it is written, assembled, and edited by the editors at ScholarlyEditions™ and available exclusively from us. You now have a source you can cite with authority, confidence, and credibility. More information is available at http://www.ScholarlyEditions.com/.
A seasoned cardiologist shares his experiences, opinions, and recommendations about heart disease and other cardiac problems A Strong and Steady Pulse: Stories from a Cardiologist provides an insider’s perspective on the field of cardiovascular medicine told through vignettes and insights drawn from Gregory D. Chapman’s three decades as a cardiologist and professor of medicine. In twenty-six bite-sized chapters based on real-life patients and experiences, Chapman provides an overview of contemporary cardiovascular diseases and treatments, illuminating the art and science of medical practice for lay audiences and professionals alike. With A Strong and Steady Pulse, Chapman provides medical students and general readers with a better understanding of cardiac disease and its contributing factors in modern life, and he also provides insights on the diagnostic process, medical decision making, and patient care. Each chapter presents a patient and their initial appearance, described in clear detail as Chapman gently walks us through his evaluation and the steps he and his associates take to determine the underlying problem. Chapman’s stories are about real people dealing with life and death situations—including the physicians, nurses, medical students, and other team members who try to save lives in emergent, confusing conditions. The sometimes hard-won solutions to these medical challenges combine new technology and cutting-edge research together with insights drawn from Chapman’s past experiences as an intern and resident in Manhattan during the AIDS epidemic, as a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University in the 1990s, and in practice in Nashville, Tennessee, and Birmingham, Alabama. Conditions addressed include the recognition and management of heart attack, heart failure, arrhythmia, valvular heart disease, cardiac transplantation, broken heart syndrome, hypertension, and the depression some people experience after a heart attack, as well as related topics like statin drugs, the Apple Watch ECG feature, and oral anticoagulants. Finally, the emergence of the COVID-19 virus and its disruption of normal hospital routines as the pandemic unfolded is addressed in an epilogue.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses a screening tool called the Listing of Impairments to identify claimants who are so severely impaired that they cannot work at all and thus immediately qualify for benefits. In this report, the IOM makes several recommendations for improving SSA's capacity to determine disability benefits more quickly and efficiently using the Listings.
Inherited Cardiac Disease provides healthcare specialists involved in the diagnosis and treatment of inherited cardiovascular disorders with a clinically relevant summary of genetic diseases and readily accessible information that can be used in everyday practice.
How is the heartbeat generated? What controls the strength of contraction of heart muscle? What are the links between cardiac structure and function? How does our understanding of skeletal and smooth muscle and non-muscle cells influence our thinking about force development in the heart? Are there important species differences in how contraction is regulated in the heart? How do the new molecular data fit together in understanding the heart beat? What goes wrong in ischemia, hypertrophy, and heart failure? This book paints a modern `portrait' of how the heart works and in this picture the author shows a close-up of the structural, biochemical, and physiological links between excitation and contraction. The author takes the reader through a series of important, interrelated topics with great clarity and continuity and also includes many useful illustrations and tables. The book starts by considering the cellular structures involved in excitation-contraction coupling and then described the characteristics of the myofilaments as the end effector of excitation-contraction coupling. A general scheme of calcium regulation is described and the possible sources and sinks of calcium are discussed in simple, but quantitative terms. The cardiac action potential and its many underlying currents are reviewed. Then the characteristics of some key calcium transport systems (calcium channels, sodium/calcium exchange and SR calcium uptake and release) are discussed in detail. This is then built into a more integrated picture of calcium regulation in succeeding chapters by detailed discussions of excitation-calcium coupling mechanisms (in skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle), the interplay between calcium regulatory processes, and finally mechanisms of cardiac inotropy, calcium overload, and dysfunction (e.g., ischemia, hypertrophy, and heart failure). Excitation-Contraction Coupling and Cardiac Contractile Force – Second Edition is an invaluable source of information for anyone who is interested in how the heart beat is controlled and especially suited for students of the cardiovascular system at all levels from medical/graduate students through senior investigators in related fields.
