In the network of cardiologists within the European Society of Cardiology Working Group on Cardiac Rehabilitation and Exercise Physiology there is a strong view that the time indeed is right to publish definitively on the methods involved in cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation. We are facing a transition from conventional cardiac rehabilitation to a phase of combined preventive and rehabilitative efforts, as witnessed in the recent Joint Task Force Guidelines on Preventive Cardiology. For this revision of our clinical routines we lack a practical textbook, based upon the conditions and resources of European health care. This textbook is designed to fill that gap.

In the network of cardiologists within the European Society of Cardiology Working Group on Cardiac Rehabilitation and Exercise Physiology there is a strong view that the time indeed is right to publish definitively on the methods involved in cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation. We are facing a transition from conventional cardiac rehabilitation to a phase of combined preventive and rehabilitative efforts, as witnessed in the recent Joint Task Force Guidelines on Preventive Cardiology. For this revision of our clinical routines we lack a practical textbook, based upon the conditions and resources of European health care. This textbook is designed to fill that gap.