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Heart Failure Management,
International Journal of Cardiology 74 (2000) 101 www.elsevier.com / locate / ijcard
Book review
Heart Failure Management, Edited by Norman Sharpe, Martin Dunitz Ltd. Publishers, September 1999, 288 pages, £65.00 The Heart Failure syndrome is not only an increasing concern worldwide for patients, and those people responsible for public health care expenditure, but it is a challenge for the clinicians because substantial improvement has been made during the last few decades in its management. It is now evident that patient quality of life and survival can both be significantly improved by new available treatment. These progresses not only involve the acquisition of new therapeutic possibilities but more important, also indications of commonly used therapy are under continuous revision and they are changing. For the clinician this constitute an important task and challenge in the every-day practice. This manual provides a valuable guide on how to use the old and newer drugs, either singly or in combination. Particular interest has been dedicated in describing the newest acquisition in clinical trials. The more recent acquisition have all been considered and the new emerging indication and contraindication of the different therapeutic
approaches discussed carefully. A dedicated chapter provides insight in the non-pharmacological treatment which has been shown to be a corn-stone in heart failure: in fact it has been demonstrated to be effective in reducing morbidity and mortality not less than the more accredited and expensive drugs. The last chapter gives also a balanced view on what it is happening in clinical research in this syndrome helping the reader in following the acquisition in the treatment of heart failure. Furthermore the book is very clear and understandable also for a large public, i.e. those that are not deeply in the field of heart failure research: the several schematic figures and diagrams provide useful guide in the identification of the more suitable treatment for a patient. In conclusion the reading of this book is highly recommended, also to the non-specialised physician.
0167-5273 / 00 / $ – see front matter 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0167-5273( 00 )00250-3
Massimo F. Piepoli Imperial College School of Medicine Cardiac Medicine London SW3 UK
Book review
Heart Failure Management, Edited by Norman Sharpe, Martin Dunitz Ltd. Publishers, September 1999, 288 pages, £65.00 The Heart Failure syndrome is not only an increasing concern worldwide for patients, and those people responsible for public health care expenditure, but it is a challenge for the clinicians because substantial improvement has been made during the last few decades in its management. It is now evident that patient quality of life and survival can both be significantly improved by new available treatment. These progresses not only involve the acquisition of new therapeutic possibilities but more important, also indications of commonly used therapy are under continuous revision and they are changing. For the clinician this constitute an important task and challenge in the every-day practice. This manual provides a valuable guide on how to use the old and newer drugs, either singly or in combination. Particular interest has been dedicated in describing the newest acquisition in clinical trials. The more recent acquisition have all been considered and the new emerging indication and contraindication of the different therapeutic
approaches discussed carefully. A dedicated chapter provides insight in the non-pharmacological treatment which has been shown to be a corn-stone in heart failure: in fact it has been demonstrated to be effective in reducing morbidity and mortality not less than the more accredited and expensive drugs. The last chapter gives also a balanced view on what it is happening in clinical research in this syndrome helping the reader in following the acquisition in the treatment of heart failure. Furthermore the book is very clear and understandable also for a large public, i.e. those that are not deeply in the field of heart failure research: the several schematic figures and diagrams provide useful guide in the identification of the more suitable treatment for a patient. In conclusion the reading of this book is highly recommended, also to the non-specialised physician.
0167-5273 / 00 / $ – see front matter 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0167-5273( 00 )00250-3
Massimo F. Piepoli Imperial College School of Medicine Cardiac Medicine London SW3 UK