Clinical Approaches to Tachyarrhythmias – serie

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy has now become a standard antiarrhythmic treatment, with the consequence that ICD technology is advancing apace. The ICD comes in increasingly smaller sizes, performs a greater range of pacing and defibrillation therapies, is supported by a range of diagnostics and telemetry, and very significantly, the ICD is now generally recognised as a more effective therapy for many arrhythmia patients than antiarrhythmic drugs such as amiodarone. The aim of the Clinical Approaches to Tachyarryhthmias series is to update the physician, cardiologist, and all those responsible for the the care of patients with cardiac arrhythmias. In this volume, Martin Fromer reviews the current status of the implantable defibrillator, recent technical developments, and indications for its use.

In the course of understanding the mechanism and therapy of atrial tachycardia, important distinctions are emerging in electrophysiological evaluations of various atrial arrhythmias, which come under scrutiny in this latest addition to the CATA Series. New diagnostic tools and more accurate understandings of atrial anatomy allow finer detection of the clinical and electrocardiographic presentation of cardiac arrhythmias. With invasive electrical mapping, intracardiac ultrasound imaging, and catheter ablation, multiple distinct arrhythmic mechanisms can be recognized and the substrate treated for a variety of tachycardiac conditions. The aim of the Clinical Approaches to Tachyarryhthmias series is to update the physician, cardiologist, and all those responsible for the the care of patients with cardiac arrhythmias. This comprehensive review offers cardiologists and electrocardiographers the latest knowledge in what is an evolving field, as innovative techniques drive the ability to diagnose and treat different tachycardia types with new interventional approaches.

The exact mechanism of a cardiac arrhythmia becomes fundamentally important when treatment can be directed specifically toward that mechanism. Advances in body surface electrograms and mapping techniques have allowed the causes of ventricular tachyarrhythmias to be pinpointed, thus suggesting viable targets for ablation therapy. However, substantial anatomical and electrophysiological knowledge and catheter-handling skills on the part of the physician are prerequisites for successful ablative technique. Catheter Ablation of Ventricular Tachycardia in Patients with Structural Heart Disease is an in-depth review of this still-expanding subject, presenting both updated information from the current literature and the personal experiences of the authors. The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive description of radiofrequency catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia from history, basic concepts and pathophysiology of radiofrequency lesion formation, to clinical applications and outcomes of these techniques in various subsets of patients with ventricular tachycardia and underlying structural heart disease. Its 128 pages offer a succinct yet comprehensive exchange of information relative to this still-experimental and important field.This book will benefit readers including clinical electrophysiologists, cardiologists, allied industry, and other health care providers who work with patients suffering from ventricular tachycardia.

Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (WPW) is recognized as an abnormality of cardiac rhythm that manifests as supraventricular tachycardia. Few practitioners today appreciate how much the development of clinical cardiac electrophysiology owes to Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. In the early 1960s, it became the test bed for electrophysiological theory and new therapies. Surgical electrophysiological techniques were developed, the pathways were severed, and the patient was often left with an entirely normal heart. This was an important first in modern cardiology - a complete cure. The aim of the Clinical Approaches to Tachyarryhthmias series is to update the physician, cardiologist, and all those responsible for the the care of patients with cardiac arrhythmias. In this volume, the authors unfold the story of WPW, its precise diagnosis by use of electrocardiography, its successful management and its near extinction in parts of the world reached by modern medical technology, and the remaining challenge it represents in pediatric medicine and in other parts of the globe.

The long QT syndrome has become the focus of considerable scientific attention in recent years because of the discovery of several genes responsible for its development. These discoveries have demonstrated the genetic heterogeneity of the syndrome and have given both the clinician and researcher the opportunity to relate phenotypic variants to different genotypes responsible for distinctly different ion channel abnormalities. These analyses - which are comprehensively reviewed and explored here for the first time - are now beginning to suggest treatment strategies specific to each genotype. The full power of such precise diagnosis promises highly targeted and very successful therapy. In the author's own words, there is "the progressive realization that behind the surface of an infrequent disease may lie the key to understanding the mechanisms by which modulation of autonomic function may enhance or prevent the occurrence of life-threatening arrhythmias." The aim of the Clinical Approaches to Tachyarryhthmias series is to update the physician, cardiologist, and all those responsible for the the care of patients with cardiac arrhythmias. In this volume, one of the foremost research pioneers in the field provides a clear and comprehensively considered account of this syndrome's history, significance, and exciting current status. Readers will gain a better understanding of why the long QT syndrome has been the focus for numerous theories of arrhythmogenesis, why it has been the test bed for many antiarrhythmic treatments, and why it remains the paradigm for the diagnosis and management of cardiac arrhythmias.

Although first reported several decades ago, the combination of ventricular tachyarrhythmias and right ventricular diseases only triggered distinctive attention in recent years. This book covers the whole spectrum of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathies. The reader will find the basic information about the anatomical substrate, the pathophysiologic mechanisms, and the clinical forms. A careful review of the diagnostic tests tackles the numerous available options ranging from the traditional electrocardiogram to the most recent imaging techniques. Also discussed are the therapeutic tools, including drugs, and the nonpharmacologic approaches. With clarifying illustrations, in color when necessary, this book serves not only the specialists in arrhythmias, but cardiologists in general.