Clinical hypertension. second edition

Clinical hypertension. second edition

Book reviews Clinical Hypertension. Kaplan, Company, M.D., Baltimore, 405 pages. Price second 1978, $41.00. edition. The By Williams Norman ...

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Book reviews

Clinical

Hypertension.

Kaplan, Company,

M.D., Baltimore, 405 pages. Price

second

1978, $41.00.

edition.

The

By Williams

Norman M. & Wilkins

This book is intended for clinicians. This is an excellent publication on a disease which is extremely common and important. It must be treated in some manner by practically all practicing doctors. Kaplan discusses clearly diagnosis and management. The book is well written. The dietary recommendations are presented, including tables listing foods for the management of hypokalemia, a constant problem when kaliuretic drugs are used. The index is well organized and usable and the bibliographies, though brief, document statements in the text effectively. The common types of hypertension are clearly defined and discussed, including renovascular hypertension, aldosteronism, low renin hypertension, and pheochromocytoma. This is a good book that should interest all doctors. Cardiac

New

Edited by G. Bodem and H. J. Dengler, 1978, Springer-Verlag, 428 pages. Price $29.00.

Glycosides.

York,

This publication includes the discussions at an international symposium held in Bonn during January, 1977, on the cardiac glycosides. This series of papers summarizes very well the chemistry, pharmacology, and clinical use of the cardiac glycosides. The metabolism and excretion of the various glycosides are discussed, including the pharmacokinetics in renal disease and uremia. The aspects of background knowledge concerning the cardiac glycosides are important, but the clinical use of the glycosides was neglected in the symposium so that the practicing physician will find little use for this publication. In fact, this reviewer finds conflicts of methods for digitalizing patients. The use of the digoxin blood level is relied upon by some of the participants for judging the clinical state of digitalization of patients, whereas others do not. This is also true in the hospitals and clinics throughout the world. This publication is a good reference book. The contributors fail to advise the reader how to digitalize a patient satisfactorily without intoxicating him, even though this can be done. Cardiac

By Cohn M. Bloor, Philadelphia, Company, 430 pages. Price $39.00.

Pathology.

B. Lippincott

1978, tJ.

This is a very good book on cardiac pathology. It is brief, succinct, and thorough. The practice of good cardiology without a knowledge of cardiac pathology is impossible. Bloor’s book includes discussions of the important selected problems in clinical cardiac pathology. Embryology, anatomy, physiology and clinical manifestations are interwoven in the discussion of the pathology of congenital and acquired types of heart disease. This book is written for clinicians as well as for pathologists. The illustrations are good, the bibliography appended to each chapter is well selected. and the publication is well done. This is a good book.

136

Clinical

Michael Futura

Echocardiography.

S. Horowitz, M.D., Publishing Company,

By Jacob I. Haft, M.D., and Mount Kisco, New York, 1978, Inc., 248 pages. Price $19.00.

Many books are appearing on the subject of echocardiography. This book is another one which really adds very little new to the field. Those interested in the subject will find this book can supplement others very little. The discussion of the interventricular septum is interesting. This is one structure in which the function is observed best by echocardiography. This is a satisfactory book on echocardiography. Clinical

Echocardiography.

Raymond Gramiak, ny, 451 pages. Price

St. Louis, $37.50.

By Navin C. Nanda and 1978, The C. V. Mosby Compa-

This is an excellent book on echocardiography. The authors have contributed considerably to the development of echocardiography as a clinical diagnostic tool. The presentations are authoritative and reflect a great deal of personal experience and thought. The book is divided into two parts: (1) fundamentals of echocardiography, and (2) clinical echocardiography. The latter consists of chapters concerned with each anatomic structure of the heart, such as the four valves, the left ventricle, prosthetic valves, pericardial fluid, and twodimensional echocardiography. The text is clear and the illustrations are good but do reveal the problems of obtaining excellent recordings. The diagrams are extremely helpful in clarifying the two-dimensional recordings by sector scan. This is an excellent and authoritative book on echocardiography. Clinical

Echocardiography.

Bernard L. Segal, Philadelphia, 361 pages. Price $35.00.

Edited

by Morris N. Kotler and 1978, F. A. Davis Company,

This is another excellent issue of Cardiovascular Clinics. The subject is timely and deals with a rapidly developing field. The many contributors have reviewed the field very well, including a discussion of training physicians and technicians. The sector scan is reviewed, as well as many important clinical applications of echocardiography. This volume should not only interest trainees in cardiology and internal medicine but physicians in general who will be using echocardiography more and more. This procedure is an important new development in medicine. Unfortunately, some observers over-read the tracings and attempt to quantitate hemodynamic phenomena while the method has not yet made accurate quantitation of most hemodynamic and cardiodynamic phenomena possible. The critical reader will learn this for himself from the various discussions. Many of the indices described need to be evaluated by reliable quantitative studies, and even such reliable standards are not yet available. This volume is a good addition to the echocardiographic literature.

January,

1980, Vol. 99, No. I