Over the past three decades, impressive progress in the field of pathogenesis, prevention and therapy of ischemic heart disease has resulted in a marked decline in mortality in the Western World. However, the incidence of this devastating disease is on the rise in developing countries. The Ischemic Heart is based upon a recent symposium in Tokyo on the subject. This volume is organized into two sections: (i) Pathophysiologic Mechanisms of Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury and (ii) Preconditioning and Protection of Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury, and contains up-to-date information concerning the current concepts of ischemia-reperfusion injury, the sequence of events resulting in the loss of contractile dysfunction, and mechanisms of cardioprotection by several drugs as well as the role of ischemic preconditioning in attenuating problems associated with ischemia-reperfusion injury.