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Lidocaine in the treatment of ventricular arrhythmias
Book reviews
MEDICINE AND SPORT. Vol. 5. EXERCISE AND CARDIAC DEATH. Edited by E. Jokl and J. T. McClellan, Baltimore, 1971, University Park Press, 185 pp. Price $11.50. This short monograph should interest all doctors and those involved with sports, but is of special interest to cardiologists. Sudden death during or shortly following exercise is well known. The 18 short papers in this volume (12 are by Dr. Jokl and his associates) are concerned mainly with a description and discussion of people who died suddenly in association with physical exertion in sports activities or following strenuous work. Trauma, myocarditis, aneurysms of the heart, coronary artery disease, and heat stress are among the many factors discussed. This is a good single volume concerning important practical clinical problems and should certainly prove useful to all physicians in general practice, as well as to internists and cardiologists. LIDOCAINE IN THE TREATMENT OF VENTRICULAR ARRHYTHMIAS. Proceedings of a Symposium held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in September, 1970. Edited by D. B. Scott and D. G. Julian, Baltimore, 1971, The Williams & Wilkins Company, 241 pp. Price $11.50. This volume presents the proceedings of a symposium held in Edinburgh in 1970 to review the action and use of lidocaine in the management of cardiac arrhythmias. Judging from the presentations, this symposium was highly clinically oriented. Each paper in this volume is succeeded by a brief discussion and these discussions clearly indicate that the precise mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias are little understood and that their control is highly empirical and is dependent upon clinical experience. Those who treat many patients with heart disease realize the difficulties involved in controlling arrhythmias and in preventing fatal arrhythmias from occurring. Lidocaine is a useful drug in this treatment but there are many other aspects of management for the patient with heart disease and arrhythmias. The interpretation of lidocaine’s action upon patients is extremely difficult and unreliable because its action seems to fluctuate with the chnicai circumstances and with the many significant variables which differ quantitatively from time to time in the same patient as well as from patient to patient. The frequent description of complex patient problems brought up at this symposium makes it difficult for this reviewer to isolate or interpret the action of the lidocaine used; it is extremely unlikely that only lidocaine was involved in most of these clinical situations. Nevertheless, lidocaine is a useful drug and this monograph is well worth critical and careful reading.
438
CIRCULATION. By Bjiirn New York, 1971, Oxford Price $15.00.
Folkow University
and Eric Neil, Press, 593 pp.
This book consists of selected aspects of the physiology of the heart and blood vessels. The material presented emanates from the physiologic literature and from laboratories; a great deal is obtained from well known monographs and from the volumes on “Circulation” in the “Handbook of Physiology” series. The presentations are authoritative and the authors are well known contributors in the field of the physiology of the circulation. The volume’s illustrations are clear and thought provoking. The 31 chapters deal primarily with the heart (including electrophysiology) and with the peripheral blood vessels; a considerable amount of the monograph includes central and peripheral hemodynamic phenomena. Since these data emanate from physiology laboratories there is relatively little material related to disease and pathophysiology. In spite of this, physicians, especially cardiologists, will find this a good review of the circulation. BLOOD MICRORHEOLOGY-VISCOSITY FACTORS IN BLOOD FLOW, ISCHAEMIA AND THROMBOSIS. By Leopold Dintenfass, Ph.D., M.Sc., F.R.AC.I., M.I.E., Aust., New York, 1971, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 445 pp. Price $16.75. Dr.
Dintenfass has produced a valuable book on an important and too often neglected aspect of the physiology of blood flow-rheology of the circulation and the relationship of blood viscosity to the normal and abnormal circulation. The author has not only emphasized the physical and physiologic principles involved but has also ably discussed the clinical applications and significance of these principles. The role of blood viscosity in clinical disease states such as polycythemia, myocardial infarction, thrombosis, coronary artery disease, Raynaud’s disease, sickle cell anemia, infections, and other disorders is very interestingly presented and the bibliography is extensive. The author’s well organized treatment should be welcomed by cardiologists and by all physicians interested in vascular diseases and the peripheral circulation.
ANGIOGRAPHY. Second Edition, Volumes 1 and 2. By Herbert L. Abrams, M.D., Boston, 1971, Little, Brown & Company, 1544 pp. Price $100.00. Dr.
Abrams has produced an excellent two volume work on angiography and this second edition brings the subject up to date. Angiography is presented in its application to the major venous and arterial systems involving the common diseases of man. The contributors are experienced in their respective fields and they thoroughly review the
MEDICINE AND SPORT. Vol. 5. EXERCISE AND CARDIAC DEATH. Edited by E. Jokl and J. T. McClellan, Baltimore, 1971, University Park Press, 185 pp. Price $11.50. This short monograph should interest all doctors and those involved with sports, but is of special interest to cardiologists. Sudden death during or shortly following exercise is well known. The 18 short papers in this volume (12 are by Dr. Jokl and his associates) are concerned mainly with a description and discussion of people who died suddenly in association with physical exertion in sports activities or following strenuous work. Trauma, myocarditis, aneurysms of the heart, coronary artery disease, and heat stress are among the many factors discussed. This is a good single volume concerning important practical clinical problems and should certainly prove useful to all physicians in general practice, as well as to internists and cardiologists. LIDOCAINE IN THE TREATMENT OF VENTRICULAR ARRHYTHMIAS. Proceedings of a Symposium held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in September, 1970. Edited by D. B. Scott and D. G. Julian, Baltimore, 1971, The Williams & Wilkins Company, 241 pp. Price $11.50. This volume presents the proceedings of a symposium held in Edinburgh in 1970 to review the action and use of lidocaine in the management of cardiac arrhythmias. Judging from the presentations, this symposium was highly clinically oriented. Each paper in this volume is succeeded by a brief discussion and these discussions clearly indicate that the precise mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias are little understood and that their control is highly empirical and is dependent upon clinical experience. Those who treat many patients with heart disease realize the difficulties involved in controlling arrhythmias and in preventing fatal arrhythmias from occurring. Lidocaine is a useful drug in this treatment but there are many other aspects of management for the patient with heart disease and arrhythmias. The interpretation of lidocaine’s action upon patients is extremely difficult and unreliable because its action seems to fluctuate with the chnicai circumstances and with the many significant variables which differ quantitatively from time to time in the same patient as well as from patient to patient. The frequent description of complex patient problems brought up at this symposium makes it difficult for this reviewer to isolate or interpret the action of the lidocaine used; it is extremely unlikely that only lidocaine was involved in most of these clinical situations. Nevertheless, lidocaine is a useful drug and this monograph is well worth critical and careful reading.
438
CIRCULATION. By Bjiirn New York, 1971, Oxford Price $15.00.
Folkow University
and Eric Neil, Press, 593 pp.
This book consists of selected aspects of the physiology of the heart and blood vessels. The material presented emanates from the physiologic literature and from laboratories; a great deal is obtained from well known monographs and from the volumes on “Circulation” in the “Handbook of Physiology” series. The presentations are authoritative and the authors are well known contributors in the field of the physiology of the circulation. The volume’s illustrations are clear and thought provoking. The 31 chapters deal primarily with the heart (including electrophysiology) and with the peripheral blood vessels; a considerable amount of the monograph includes central and peripheral hemodynamic phenomena. Since these data emanate from physiology laboratories there is relatively little material related to disease and pathophysiology. In spite of this, physicians, especially cardiologists, will find this a good review of the circulation. BLOOD MICRORHEOLOGY-VISCOSITY FACTORS IN BLOOD FLOW, ISCHAEMIA AND THROMBOSIS. By Leopold Dintenfass, Ph.D., M.Sc., F.R.AC.I., M.I.E., Aust., New York, 1971, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 445 pp. Price $16.75. Dr.
Dintenfass has produced a valuable book on an important and too often neglected aspect of the physiology of blood flow-rheology of the circulation and the relationship of blood viscosity to the normal and abnormal circulation. The author has not only emphasized the physical and physiologic principles involved but has also ably discussed the clinical applications and significance of these principles. The role of blood viscosity in clinical disease states such as polycythemia, myocardial infarction, thrombosis, coronary artery disease, Raynaud’s disease, sickle cell anemia, infections, and other disorders is very interestingly presented and the bibliography is extensive. The author’s well organized treatment should be welcomed by cardiologists and by all physicians interested in vascular diseases and the peripheral circulation.
ANGIOGRAPHY. Second Edition, Volumes 1 and 2. By Herbert L. Abrams, M.D., Boston, 1971, Little, Brown & Company, 1544 pp. Price $100.00. Dr.
Abrams has produced an excellent two volume work on angiography and this second edition brings the subject up to date. Angiography is presented in its application to the major venous and arterial systems involving the common diseases of man. The contributors are experienced in their respective fields and they thoroughly review the