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Noninvasive technics in cardiology
L&it. J. liis. Chest (1974)
68, 284
BOOK
REVIEWS
jv’oninvasive Technics in Cardiology. By HOWARD H. WAYNE. Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers (London: Lloyd Luke). 1973. Pp. x + 229. E7.00. This monograph deals with the apex cardiogram, the recording of heart sounds and murmurs and the systolic time intervals. It is surprising to find that a book comprehensively entitled .Noninvasive Technics in Cardiology omits echocardiography. The first 43 pages are devoted to heart sounds including ejection clicks and the following 12 pages to murmurs. The next IOO pages are about the apex cardiogram. There follow 46 pages on the systolic and diastolic time intervals and the final few pages are devoted to the inter-relationships of the non-invasive techniques which have been described and their correlation with cardiac catheterization findings. The author is properly concerned with the technology of obtaining accurate recordings and with the recognition of the normal from the abnormal. The bulk of the text is about ischaemic heart disease in all its aspects. There is much less detail on structural heart disease, valvular disease being mentioned only briefly and congenital heart disease hardly at all. There is good discussion on the information to be gained about ventricular function from these methods. The author promulgates the use of non-invasive techniques in the early diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease and advocates the use of exercise, the hand grip test and amyl nitrite to bring out added fourth or third heart sounds or an abnormal a wave on the apex cardiogram. The non-invasive techniques have been under utilized in the recognition of asymptomatic heart disease as well as in the assessment of left ventricular function in ischaemia and hypertension but the author tends to overemphasis their capabilities. On page 6 the comparison of heart sounds and murmurs from one occasion to another is likened to the comparison of the performances of a symphony given many weeks or months apart. The short section on heart murmurs contains the statement that regurgitant murmurs remain unchanged after amyl nitrite (page 52, legend to Fig. 7-15). This of course is incorrect as most regurgitant murmurs get softer after amyl nitrite. Despite the limited coverage the techniques and conditions dealt with are clearly described and the illustrations are of high quality. Selected references and a useful index are placed at the back. Some will pale at being asked to pay 1(;7 for a two hundred page paperback, however well produced it is. CELIA
OAKLEY
Epidemiology of Chronic Lung Diseases in Children. By LEON GORDIS. London and Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press. 1973. Pp. xvi + 138. No price stated. This volume of about 130 pages is, in reality, a critical review of the literature on epidemiology of a number of lung diseases seen in children. The diseases chosen comprise asthma, sarcoidosis, cystic fibrosis and briefly bronchiectasis and congenital lobar emphysema. Hyaline membrane disease is also included, because of its possible respiratory and neurological sequelae.
68, 284
BOOK
REVIEWS
jv’oninvasive Technics in Cardiology. By HOWARD H. WAYNE. Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers (London: Lloyd Luke). 1973. Pp. x + 229. E7.00. This monograph deals with the apex cardiogram, the recording of heart sounds and murmurs and the systolic time intervals. It is surprising to find that a book comprehensively entitled .Noninvasive Technics in Cardiology omits echocardiography. The first 43 pages are devoted to heart sounds including ejection clicks and the following 12 pages to murmurs. The next IOO pages are about the apex cardiogram. There follow 46 pages on the systolic and diastolic time intervals and the final few pages are devoted to the inter-relationships of the non-invasive techniques which have been described and their correlation with cardiac catheterization findings. The author is properly concerned with the technology of obtaining accurate recordings and with the recognition of the normal from the abnormal. The bulk of the text is about ischaemic heart disease in all its aspects. There is much less detail on structural heart disease, valvular disease being mentioned only briefly and congenital heart disease hardly at all. There is good discussion on the information to be gained about ventricular function from these methods. The author promulgates the use of non-invasive techniques in the early diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease and advocates the use of exercise, the hand grip test and amyl nitrite to bring out added fourth or third heart sounds or an abnormal a wave on the apex cardiogram. The non-invasive techniques have been under utilized in the recognition of asymptomatic heart disease as well as in the assessment of left ventricular function in ischaemia and hypertension but the author tends to overemphasis their capabilities. On page 6 the comparison of heart sounds and murmurs from one occasion to another is likened to the comparison of the performances of a symphony given many weeks or months apart. The short section on heart murmurs contains the statement that regurgitant murmurs remain unchanged after amyl nitrite (page 52, legend to Fig. 7-15). This of course is incorrect as most regurgitant murmurs get softer after amyl nitrite. Despite the limited coverage the techniques and conditions dealt with are clearly described and the illustrations are of high quality. Selected references and a useful index are placed at the back. Some will pale at being asked to pay 1(;7 for a two hundred page paperback, however well produced it is. CELIA
OAKLEY
Epidemiology of Chronic Lung Diseases in Children. By LEON GORDIS. London and Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press. 1973. Pp. xvi + 138. No price stated. This volume of about 130 pages is, in reality, a critical review of the literature on epidemiology of a number of lung diseases seen in children. The diseases chosen comprise asthma, sarcoidosis, cystic fibrosis and briefly bronchiectasis and congenital lobar emphysema. Hyaline membrane disease is also included, because of its possible respiratory and neurological sequelae.