Treatment in Clinical Medicine – serie

"Gastrointestinal Disease" is the first monograph in a new series on management and treatment in major clinical subspecialties and patient groups. Further volumes will be published over the next few years. Each book is complete in its own right. The whole series, however, has been prepared to fill a gap, perceived by the publisher, myself and the volume authors, between standard textbooks of medicine and therapeutics and research reviews, symposia and original articles in specialist fields. Each volume aims to provide a concise, up to date account of treatment in its subject area with particular reference to drug therapy. Traditional clinical and therapeutic approaches have been presented in the context of developments in clinical pharmacology. Wherever possible, authorship has been under­ taken by practising clinicians who themselves have training and experience in clinical pharmacology. The volumes are intended to be guides to treatment, to assist in the choice of drug and other treatment and to provide easy references to drug interactions and adverse reactions. It is expected that these monographs will be particularly useful for the young hospital doctor in training for higher qualifications. However, they should also be valuable to or senior medical students and to those in established hospital general practice who are seeking to update their knowledge and to view recent developments in other fields in a balanced context. The aims of the series should be upheld by this volume on "Gastrointestinal Disease".

"Rheumatic Disease" is the second monograph in a new series on management and treatment in major clinical subspecialties and patient groups. Further volumes will be published over the next few years. Each book is complete in its own right. The whole series, however, has been prepared to fill a gap, perceived by the publisher, myself and the volume authors, between standard text­ books of medicine and therapeutics and research reviews, sympo­ sia' and original articles in specialist fields. Each volume aims to provide a concise, up to date account of treatment in its subject area with particular reference to drug therapy. Wherever pos­ sible, authorship has been undertaken by practising clinicians who themselves have training and experience in clinical pharma­ cology. The volumes are intended to be guides to treatment, to assist in the choice of drug and other treatment and to provide easy references to drug interactions and adverse reactions. The aims of the series should be upheld by this volume on "Rheumatic Disease". The book has been prepared in Glasgow and Newcastle. The authors, Drs. Hilary Capell, Terry Daymond and Carson Dick, are not only respected clinicians and rheumato­ logists but have wide clinical and research experience in the clinical pharmacology of antirheumatic drugs and therapeutic management of connective tissue disease and other areas of rheumatology. This volume combines practical pragmatic man­ agement with new concepts in drug treatment.

"The Elderly" is the third monograph in a series on management and treatment in major patient groups and subspecialties. Each book is complete in its own right. The whole series, however, has fill a gap between standard text-books of medicine been prepared to and therapeutics and research reviews, symposia and original arti­ cles in specialist fields. The aim of the series is to present up-to-date authoritative advice on patient management with particular refer­ ence to drug treatment. The first two volumes in the series, on gastrointestinal diseases and rheumatic diseases, were addressed to major therapeutic areas or subspecialties. The present volume, "The Elderly", is intended to provide overall guidance on the manage­ ment of a range of medical problems in elderly patients. The elderly make up an increasing proportion of the population and require a substantial proportion of health care resources. The management of elderly patients falls not only upon specialist geriatricians but also upon a range of others, including general practitioners, general physicians and almost all other medical specialists with the excep­ tion of paediatricians. It has become apparent in recent years that the management of disease in the elderly in general and drug treatment in particular presents new problems and challenges. Some of these relate to the wide spectrum of disease in elderly patients, in whom there is often multiple pathology, while others concern age-induced changes in drug handling or drug effect.

'Cardiovascular Disease' is the fourth monograph in the series on management and treatment in major clinical sub specialties or patient groups. Each book is complete in its own right and has been prepared by practising physicians with specialist experience and a particular interest in treatment and management. The series has been prepared to fill a gap between standard textbooks of medicine and therapeutics and research reviews, symposia and original articles in specialist fields. The volumes aim to give authoritative, up-to-date advice on treatment and management which will be of use to both specialists and non-specialists and allow recent advances and developments to be seen in the context of contemporary clinical practice. The first three volumes dealt respectively with gastroin­ testinal diseases, rheumatic diseases and treatment in the elderly. Cardiovascular disease covers the range of common diseases affect­ ing the heart and the circulation. In view of the importance of coronary heart disease as a cause of death and morbidity a substan­ tial part of the book is devoted to description of the factors asso­ ciated with coronary artery disease (hyperlipidaemia and hypertension) and their management by drug and non-drug means. A further five chapters are devoted to the clinical syndromes asso­ ciated with coronary heart disease and their management. These not only consider acute 'in hospital' management, including sur­ gery, but also address epidemiological questions, including approaches to secondary prevention of myocardial infarction.

Respiratory Disease, the latest volume in the "Treatment in Clinical Medicine" series, is in two parts: the first reviews the background to each of the main respiratory diseases with particular emphasis on management and treatment. The second reviews the main drugs used in respiratory practice in more detail and combines a pharmacological appraisal with a more personal assessment of their role and value in treatment. Practical aspects of management are emphasised. Where uncertainty exists the authors have described their own practice. The book aims to fill the gap which exists between textbooks of respiratory medicine, where there is often insufficient space to cover treatment in detail, and pharmacological textbooks, which are not concerned with practical management problems. It is intended for respiratory physicians, general physicians and senior medical students, and will provide useful background information for researchers entering the the field.

Neurological Disorders is the latest and fifth monograph in the series on management and treatment in major clinical specialties or patient groups. Each book is complete in'its own right and has been prepared by practising physicians with an interest in treatment and management, together with scientists involved in clinical research. The volumes are intended to fill a gap between standard textbooks of medicine and therapeutics and research reviews, symposia and original articles in superspecialist fields. It is the aim of the series to give authoritative up-to-date advice on treatment and management which will be of use to both specialists and nonspecialists and to allow recent advances in pathophysiol­ ogy and developments in treatment to be viewed in the context of contemporary clinical practice. The approach is intentionally by the minimum number didactic. Each volume has been written of authors to ensure a degree of continuity and uniformity of style. The first four volumes dealt respectively with gastrointestinal diseases, rheumatic diseases, treatment in the elderly and car­ diovascular disease. The present volume covers neurological diseases. Chapter 1 is an introduction to drugs and the nervous system. It reviews the chemical basis of neurotransmission and mechanisms of drug action in neurological disease. There follows a series of chapters discussing patient management in general and drug treatment in particular in common neurological problems presen­ ting in general medical practice. These include headache, cerebral vascular disease, epilepsy and the movement disorders.