Michael Rigby – författare

One important reason for the multitude of research activities in this field is because physical inactivity and nutrition are significant risk factors for many common non-communicable diseases. During the past decades physical inactivity and high dietary fat intakes have become increasingly prevalent in people’s daily lives in industrialised countries. To prevent and to tackle these major diseases, there is a need for a much better understanding of the basic biological and underlying patho-physiological processes, as well as more relevant baseline data describing food intakes and physical activity habits amongst the general population.

Being aware of the importance of nutrition and physical activity for health status a multitude of projects with different scopes and methodologies has arisen. This variety makes it necessary to bring the results of these activities into a coordinated framework.

The main target of clinical and academic cardiology activities is to optimize the patient''s management and ultimately their welfare. Professionals manage patients according to their own understanding of disease process; clinicians concentrate on alleviating the symptoms and echocardiographers on identifying the disease. This book helps to ''cross the barrier'' and describes the common ground between physiologic disturbances and their management which should ideally form the shared basis for understanding and managing all cardiac problems.

A practical review of the many uses of echocardiography in clinical practice, Clinical Echocardiography is designed to integrate and refine the investigation of cardiac disorders within the framework of the pathologic, physiologic and surgical appearances of heart disease. It has been common to consider echocardiographic findings separately from the more physical aspects of heart disease. However, with the development of new imaging modalities such as three- and four-dimensional echocardiography, it has become necessary to consider this imaging as a window on the heart. This book aids the cardiologist, cardiac surgeon and echocardiographer to integrate their knowledge within the overall management of cardiac disease in a clinically relevant manner.

Questo atlante è ispirato ad una strategia didattica esemplare e intende fornire agli specialisti, coinvolti nella gestione della malattia cardiaca, strumenti comuni per la comprensione ed il trattamento delle varie problematiche ad essa legate nella pratica clinica quotidiana. L’informazione viene selezionata accuratamente e l’ecocardiografia è immersa nel contesto clinico, anatomico, fisiopatologico , terapeutico e chirurgico entro cui è abitualmente utilizzata.

È un libro figlio dell’esperienza e della cultura del Brompton Hospital di Londra – dove con Derek Gibson è nata negli anni ’70 l’ecocardiografia moderna, in un ambiente di eccellenza, dove ogni giorno l’attendibilità dell’informazione ecocardiografica veniva tarata sulla spietata verifica clinica, emodinamica, cardiochirurgica. Di Gibson, Michael Henein è oggi il degno successore a capo del più rinomato laboratorio di ecocardiografia del Regno Unito. È un laboratorio gestito da cardiologi clinici che si servono dell’ecocardiografia non come un fine ma come un mezzo (prezioso, prodigiosamente versatile, insostituibile – ma sempre e solo un mezzo) per curare meglio i pazienti.