Book WIEDERHERSTELLUNGSCHIRURGIE HERZBEUTEL. By Prof.
Prof. Dr. Med. lag, 232 pages,
reviews AN
HERZ
UND
Dr. Med. W. Schmitt, and J. KudCsz, Berlin, 1959, VEB Ver143 illustrations. Price: DM 36,80.
This is a book summarizing the present status of surgical therapy of acquired and traumatic heart disease. The first chapter is by J. Kudasz about surgical repair of acquired valvular disease, cardiac aneurysms, and therapy in coronary heart disease. It gives an excellent description of preoperative diagnostic measures. The author’s own experience of 1,400 commissurotomies, his critical attitude, and the inclusion of 300 references make this chapter a valuable contribution to the standard literature. W. Schmitt gives a detailed description of penetrating heart injuries, reports of which he has collected from the literature. The clinical symptomatology is discussed and offers a good review not only to heart surgeons but even more to general surgeons. Foreign bodies of the heart by W. Schmitt contains also a thorough collection of many cases from the world literature. Diagnosis and therapy of unexpected intraoperattvc cardiac arrest by Blume includes an outline for a strict and good therapeutic regimen. The undesired hypotensive side effect of procaine amide (Pronestyl), however, is not mentioned. Diagnosis and surgical management of pericardial disease, with special reference to cardiac tamponade and constrictive pericarditis, are discussed by Schmitt. It might be of interest that reference is made to a great deal of Russian literature. The paper is good, but the printing is sometimes irregular, and the reproductions are not always satisfactory.
PULMONAR. By Antonio Jose de Amorim Robalo Cordeiro, Second Assistente da Faculdade de Medicina de Coimbra, Coimbra, 1959, Coimbra Editora Limitada, 518 pages. ATELECTASIA
The author’s work represents the thesis for the M.D. degree which was presented at the Faculdade de Medicina de Coimbra. The work is divided into two parts. The first one presents the broad problems of pulmonary atelectasis. This section contains three chapters: (1) Fetal and newborn atelectasis: In this chapter the author tries to give a detailed presentation of pulmonary embryology, followed by his concepts concerning the problem of newborn atelectasis. (2) Obstructive bronchopneumopathy: The etiology and physiopathology of the pulmonary ventilatory defects are summarized, and the pathologic aspects, evolution, and differential diagnosis of the various obstructive bronchopneumopathies are discussed. Also described are
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a great deal of personal experiments performed in laboratory animals. (3) Position of atelectasis in pulmonary pathology: Two main aspects are studied-(a) acquired atelectasis viewed as a return to the fetal state, and (b) the real magnitude of the problem in medicine. The second part of the work is devoted to circulatory physiopathology of pulmonary atelectasis and is divided into four chapters. (1) The author discusses the physiopathology of the pulmonary arterial circulation and bronchial arterial circulation as well as the bronchial circulation and the bronchopulmonary arterial anastomoses. (2) With regard to the chapter on clinical investigation and hemodynamics, the author contributes 18 cases which have been thoroughly studied. (3) In the chapter pertaining to experimental investigation, the author describes methods for the study of the bronchial circulation and of the bronchopulmonary arterial anastomoses. He reviews a large number of experiments trying to explain the behavior of the bronchial circulation as related to: (a) pathology of the pulmonary arterial system, (b) obstructive bronchopneumonia, and (c) bronchopneumonia in general. He ends the chapter with a pathogenic and physiopathologic synthesis. (4) Final commentary is made on the findings related to the circulatory alteration in the atelectatic lung. The work ends with a summary in Portuguese (translated into French and English), conclusions, and 909 bibliographic citations. A reading of Dr. Robalo Cordeiro’s book shows clearly that he has done wonderful work. He took up a subject which has been thoroughly debated, informed himself of nearly everything that had been published up to the present date, discussed intelligently the points of view defended by several researchers, and tried to make up for the existing lapses. We have an excellent impression of the work. The author is extremely careful in his clinical observations, is strict in his experiences, and very cautious in his conclusions. We think that his contribution is extremely valuable. The work would seem to be very useful to those who wish to broaden their knowledge in the field of pulmonary atelectasis.
PATHOLOGIE UND KLINIK IN EINZELDAKSTELLUNGEN. BAND 8. KLINIK DER SUBAKUTEN BAKTERIELLEN ENDOCARDITIS. By Frank Schaub, Oberarzt
Medizinischen 1960, Springer
Universitatsklinik, Verlag, 207 pages.
Zurich. Price: DM
der Berlin, 49, 60.
This is a new German-language monograph on subacute bacterial endocarditis by a Swiss clinician from the university medical clinic in Zurich.’ It includes a review of the literature as well as an analysis of a personally collected series of 172 cases from the author’s own and several other Swiss hospitals. Principal emphasis is given to