Oxford Cardiology Library – serie

The management of hypertension varies considerably from clinician to clinician. This pocketbook is a concise and evidence-based summary of current understanding and practice, including the most up-to-date guidance from national and international bodies and their recommendations for hypertension care.Written by an international team of experts, it covers all the key aspects of hypertension from epidemiology and aetiology to investigations, management, and complications. It also covers the management of hypertension in special patient groups such as in pregnancy and the elderly. Emphasis is laid throughout the book on lowering cardiovascular risk as a part of managing hypertension. An essential tool for everyday use in managing hypertension, this book aids clinical decision-making by collating all the relevant information and guidance in one easily accessible place.This new edition has been fully updated to include expanded content on hypertension mediated organ damage and two new chapters covering the effects of hypertension on the brain and on the eyes.

Coronary artery disease is the most common cause of morbidity in the developed and developing world. In the acute situation, in contrast to the stable presentation, there is a need for urgency with clear benefits from intervention. However it is imperative that risks are assessed and addressed as part of the long term strategy. Preventing acute coronary syndromes is more important than dealing with them. This concise, practical pocketbook opens with the background and mechanisms leading to the acute event and how an understanding of the pathophysiology can direct the overall management and not just the acute presentation. The books intention is to highlight the practical aspects of management and establish straightforward management plans. It therefore looks at the syndromes via a team approach to address all of the issues and optimise care.

In the last decade, advances in the understanding of lipoprotein and lipid metabolism have developed enormously. This has resulted in a detailed knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the primary and secondary dyslipidaemias. Furthermore, the role of lipoproteins in atherogenesis is increasingly understood at the cellular and molecular level. In this book, the scale of the problem of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is described together with the possibilities for prevention. The pathophysiology of lipid and lipoproteins provide a background to the understanding of the primary and secondary dyslipidaemias and the mechanism of action of the different drug classes.A practical approach to therapy is provided including diet, lifestyle, and therapeutic approaches. Common clinical problems are addressed and the book looks to the future, principally in relation to new therapeutic targets. This book provides the basis for the translation of clinical trial science into everyday clinical practice for the benefit of the individual patient.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death worldwide with 3.8 million men and 3.4 million women dying each year. Cardioprotection refers to the prevention of CHD and the clinical improvement in patients suffering from cardiovascular problems. This book focuses on the role of cardioprotection in surgery and the use of pharmacological therapies such as ACE-inhibitors, statins and beta-blockers in order to reduce the myocardial injury sustained by the patient and the significant risk of morbidity and mortality. It includes new cardioprotective strategies aimed at improving the clinical outcomes of patients in these settings, as well as current well-established methods for reducing myocardial injury in acute coronary syndrome patients.

Interventional cardiology is a branch of cardiology that deals specifically with the catheter-based treatment of structural heart diseases such as angina, dyspnea on exertion, and congestive heart failure. This pocketbook focuses on the practical aspects of cardiac catheterization and interventions including indications, periprocedural medications and techniques, interpretation of results, and the prevention and treatment of periprocedural complications.Written by highly respected European experts within the field of cardiology, this comprehensive but concise guide includes key references covering randomized clinical trials in each chapter, and follows the European Society of Cardiology guidelines. This book will appeal to cardiologists, trainees, and all related healthcare professionals who are involved in catheterization procedures.

Over the past 20 years, effective treatments for lipid disorders have become available. With the high incidence of coronary artery disease in the developed world, interest in this area has greatly increased, and 10% of the UK population now qualify for lipid lowering treatment. It is therefore important that the rational use of lipid-lowering treatment is based on an understanding of the underlying metabolic problem.This comprehensive but concise guide makes basic lipid metabolism understandable to the reader without over-simplification. The often confusing classification of lipid disorders is explained clearly, and this book will appeal to cardiologists, trainees and all related healthcare professionals who are involved in prescribing lipid-lowering medications on a daily basis.

This concise pocketbook provides an easily accessible resource on pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) for medical professionals (senior and trainees), nurses and allied disciplines. PAH is not any longer an orphan disease, nor is it associated with a grave prognosis and premature death (as it used to be the case a decade or two ago). Patients with PAH should enjoy improved survival and quality of life, provided that an early -and not late- diagnosis is made combined with timely initiation of advanced therapy in specialized/designated tertiary centres. This comprehensive text incorporates PAH expertise from the UK and the rest of the world. The book outlines the key points with respect to the latest classification, pathobiology, genetics, clinical assessment of the patient with suspected PAH and the role of imaging. There are specific chapters addressing different PAH aetiologies, namely idiopathic PAH, thromboembolic PAH, PAH related to connective tissue disease, congenital heart disease (Eisenmenger complex), respiratory disease and other unusual causes. Last, but not least, the book addresses counselling, contraception and the latest therapy for the challenging area of pregnancy and PAH, which is still associated with a high maternal mortality risk. The main objective of the book is to increase awareness of PAH, promote rapid diagnostic work up and timely specialist referral so that effective therapy is made available as early as possible to all patients with suspected or known PAH. Physicians -senior or Junior, nurse or other health care professional - whether senior or junior - who may encounter patients with PAH has much to gain from this book.

The management of patients committed to long-term oral anticoagulation, such as those with atrial fibrillation at moderate to high risk of stroke, mechanical heart valves, and previous arterial/venous thromboembolism, who are submitted to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has become an issue of increasing importance in the last years. Guidelines/expert consensus papers addressing the complex management of this population, which is estimated to represent about 5 to 10% of all patients referred for PCI, have been recently made available. As underlined in the most recent guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation issued by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) however, "guidelines are no substitutes for textbooks". This pocketbook addresses the key management points and summarises the properties of the stents and the clinical pharmacology of the antithrombotic agents to be used in these patients. It will be a useful guide for clinical and interventional cardiologists, internists, surgeons, primary care doctors, and other physicians who care for these patients.