Cardiac Disease in the Elderly

Already in the early 21st century coronary heart disease and heart failure represent the most frequent cause of death in civilized countries. The annual rates of new diseases in the Western world, combined with an increasingly longer life expectancy, now confront medicine and the society that finances it with previously unknown problems. Even in advanced age, almost any form of treatment of an interventional or surgical nature is possible in the therapy of heart diseases - in addition to outside studies - without an unacceptable increase in the risk to the individual patient. The aim of this book is to present the findings and the prospects of success in a transparent manner, to support the medical decision-making process and to give the funding bodies as well as scientists and politicians the opportunity to discuss effects, backgrounds and provisional solutions.