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Coronary heart disease, exercise testing and cardiac rehabilitation
Book
Coronary bilitation.
reviews
Heart
Disease,
Exercise
Testing
and
Cardiac
Reha-
Edited by William E. James, Ph.D., and Ezra Amsterdam, M.D., New York, 1977, Stratton Intercontinental Medical Book Corporation, 336 pages. Price $27.56.
A.
These proceedings of an international congress on coronary heart disease, exercise testing, and cardiac rehabilitation provide readers with opinions and practices around the world on an important subject. The book contains 25 papers about equally divided on epidemiology and management, exercise testing, cardiac rehabilitation, and workshop summaries. This reviewer found nothing really new among the papers nor any convincing data to support the cardiac benefits of exercise so frequently discussed in the medical and lay literature. For example, the risk factors for coronary heart disease (infarction and sudden death) are listed in Table I, page 25. But, is smoking itself a risk factor or are factors associated with smoking the true factors? On page 39 the use of aspirin and lipid-lowering drugs (nicotinic acid, clofibrate, and cholestyramine) are recommended in the therapy of coronary atherosclerosis. But, are they effective or just a contemporary fad? These and other aspects of coronary heart disease are discussed, but the reader, unless he is critical in his evaluation, will be convinced that certain therapeutic procedures are effective. This applies for exercise as well. The book does clearly present the present attitudes and concepts on coronary heart disease, however. The text is well written. Coronary heart disease remains an extremely important health problem and this book describes the approaches to the major problem throughout the world. The critical reader and those who follow the medical literature will find little new in this publication. Those physicians who do not follow the medical literature closely will find the book to be a good single volume on subjects frequently discussed in the management of ischemic heart disease. Colloquium on Cardiac Pacing. Edited by J. Warren Harthome and Hilbert J. Th. Thaien, The Hague, The Netherlands. 1977. Martinus Niihoff BV Publishers. 18.5 pages. Price i18.50: Boston
This small book is a very good concise discussion of an important advancement in cardiology. The presentation is done with good taste and planning. Although it is of only a few pages, it is complete and thorough and directed for the practicing general physician, cardiologist, and cardiac surgeon. History, technic, instrumentation, indications, methodology, and follow-up of patients are among the subjects presented. As in all symposia, the question and answer section at the end of the book is quite interesting. This is a very good
American
Heart
Journal
concise book on cardiac pacing. Dr. Paul Zoll is properly and nicely recognized as the originator of the pacing concept and management of cardiac arrest and complete heart block. Readers will learn a great deal from this book.
Cardiomyopathy
Kaltenbach, New York,
and Myocardial Biopsy. Edited by M. F. Loogen, and E. G. J. Olsen, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1978, Springer-Verlag, 337 pages.
This book written by many contributors is concerned primarily with light and electron microscopic pathology of the myocardium of patients with cardiomyopathy. It is evident from the discussions that there are no characteristic morphologic changes of the different etiologic types of cardiomyopathy. The pathologic changes, including ultrastructural ones, are well known to those who are interested in the cardiomyop athiea, but this book is a good summary of the morphologic changes for those who ‘are not directly engaged in cardiac pathology. The classification of the cardiomyopathies outlined on page XV is brief. There is no consideration given to the cardiomyopathy of the aging process (senile cardiomyopathy or “preabycardia”) or ischemic cardiomyopathy. The latter is the most common etiologic type. The book is well written, the contributions selected are important, and the illustrations are good. The clinical value of myocardial biopsy is not critically justified. In short, is the risk and expense of a myocardial biopsy necessary, helpful, and sufficiently representative for clinical evaluation of the cardiac state when an expert cardiologist is available for evaluation of the patient without cardiac muscle biopsy? This reviewer thinks not. Brain
K.-A. York,
Heart Infarct. Edited by K. J. Zulch, W. Kaufmann, Hossmann, and V. Hosamann, Berlin, Heidelberg, New 1977, Springer-Verlag, 349 pages.
and
This symposium is concerned with cerebral circulation and with myocardial circulation. The papers are not concerned with the influence of one upon the other, such as the effects of impaired cerebral blood flow on the myocardial blood flow. The many short papers discuss hypertension and cerebral blood flow, hypotension as a risk factor, coronary arteriosclerosis and ischemic heart disease, the heart in hypertension, risk factors, cerebral arteriosclerosis, cerebral ischemia, etc. These brief papers are interesting and a source of interesting review of the problems of impaired cerebral and myocardial circulations. The contributors are from all over the world. This is an interesting book on two important problems in medicine, cerebral circulation and myocardial circulation.
547
Coronary bilitation.
reviews
Heart
Disease,
Exercise
Testing
and
Cardiac
Reha-
Edited by William E. James, Ph.D., and Ezra Amsterdam, M.D., New York, 1977, Stratton Intercontinental Medical Book Corporation, 336 pages. Price $27.56.
A.
These proceedings of an international congress on coronary heart disease, exercise testing, and cardiac rehabilitation provide readers with opinions and practices around the world on an important subject. The book contains 25 papers about equally divided on epidemiology and management, exercise testing, cardiac rehabilitation, and workshop summaries. This reviewer found nothing really new among the papers nor any convincing data to support the cardiac benefits of exercise so frequently discussed in the medical and lay literature. For example, the risk factors for coronary heart disease (infarction and sudden death) are listed in Table I, page 25. But, is smoking itself a risk factor or are factors associated with smoking the true factors? On page 39 the use of aspirin and lipid-lowering drugs (nicotinic acid, clofibrate, and cholestyramine) are recommended in the therapy of coronary atherosclerosis. But, are they effective or just a contemporary fad? These and other aspects of coronary heart disease are discussed, but the reader, unless he is critical in his evaluation, will be convinced that certain therapeutic procedures are effective. This applies for exercise as well. The book does clearly present the present attitudes and concepts on coronary heart disease, however. The text is well written. Coronary heart disease remains an extremely important health problem and this book describes the approaches to the major problem throughout the world. The critical reader and those who follow the medical literature will find little new in this publication. Those physicians who do not follow the medical literature closely will find the book to be a good single volume on subjects frequently discussed in the management of ischemic heart disease. Colloquium on Cardiac Pacing. Edited by J. Warren Harthome and Hilbert J. Th. Thaien, The Hague, The Netherlands. 1977. Martinus Niihoff BV Publishers. 18.5 pages. Price i18.50: Boston
This small book is a very good concise discussion of an important advancement in cardiology. The presentation is done with good taste and planning. Although it is of only a few pages, it is complete and thorough and directed for the practicing general physician, cardiologist, and cardiac surgeon. History, technic, instrumentation, indications, methodology, and follow-up of patients are among the subjects presented. As in all symposia, the question and answer section at the end of the book is quite interesting. This is a very good
American
Heart
Journal
concise book on cardiac pacing. Dr. Paul Zoll is properly and nicely recognized as the originator of the pacing concept and management of cardiac arrest and complete heart block. Readers will learn a great deal from this book.
Cardiomyopathy
Kaltenbach, New York,
and Myocardial Biopsy. Edited by M. F. Loogen, and E. G. J. Olsen, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1978, Springer-Verlag, 337 pages.
This book written by many contributors is concerned primarily with light and electron microscopic pathology of the myocardium of patients with cardiomyopathy. It is evident from the discussions that there are no characteristic morphologic changes of the different etiologic types of cardiomyopathy. The pathologic changes, including ultrastructural ones, are well known to those who are interested in the cardiomyop athiea, but this book is a good summary of the morphologic changes for those who ‘are not directly engaged in cardiac pathology. The classification of the cardiomyopathies outlined on page XV is brief. There is no consideration given to the cardiomyopathy of the aging process (senile cardiomyopathy or “preabycardia”) or ischemic cardiomyopathy. The latter is the most common etiologic type. The book is well written, the contributions selected are important, and the illustrations are good. The clinical value of myocardial biopsy is not critically justified. In short, is the risk and expense of a myocardial biopsy necessary, helpful, and sufficiently representative for clinical evaluation of the cardiac state when an expert cardiologist is available for evaluation of the patient without cardiac muscle biopsy? This reviewer thinks not. Brain
K.-A. York,
Heart Infarct. Edited by K. J. Zulch, W. Kaufmann, Hossmann, and V. Hosamann, Berlin, Heidelberg, New 1977, Springer-Verlag, 349 pages.
and
This symposium is concerned with cerebral circulation and with myocardial circulation. The papers are not concerned with the influence of one upon the other, such as the effects of impaired cerebral blood flow on the myocardial blood flow. The many short papers discuss hypertension and cerebral blood flow, hypotension as a risk factor, coronary arteriosclerosis and ischemic heart disease, the heart in hypertension, risk factors, cerebral arteriosclerosis, cerebral ischemia, etc. These brief papers are interesting and a source of interesting review of the problems of impaired cerebral and myocardial circulations. The contributors are from all over the world. This is an interesting book on two important problems in medicine, cerebral circulation and myocardial circulation.
547