Special Diagnostic Procedures
Special Diagnostic Procedures Echocardiography In the book and movie The Hunt for Red October, each side found the other’s submarines underwater by bouncing sound waves off them. The same principle…
Heart Attack
Heart Attack Half of all deaths are caused by disease of the heart and blood vessels. The chances are good, therefore, that you will be on hand when someone actually…
Measuring the Efficiency of the Heart
Measuring the Efficiency of the Heart How well is the heart performing its job of pumping blood? (Ventricular function is the term cardiologists use to describe the pumping efficiency of…
Cardiac Surgery
Cardiac Surgery Forty to 50 years ago, the idea of operating on the inside of the heart was pure science fiction. Now it happens every day in every major hospital…
Catheterization of the Heart and Coronary Arteriography
Catheterization of the Heart and Coronary Arteriography A catheter is simply a long, thin, hollow tube of any kind. It’s possible to thread a catheter up a vein or an…
Medical Treatment of Heart Failure
Medical Treatment of Heart Failure This chapter is included here for a good reason. By now the reader should understand what happens when the pumping action of the heart fails….
Cardiac Arrhythmias
Cardiac Arrhythmias To understand the disorders of heart rhythm, it’s essential to see them recorded in the electrocardiogram. Without this remarkable device, modern diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias would…
To Pace or Not to Pace
To Pace or Not to Pace Cardiac pacemakers represent one of the great accomplishments of 20th-century cardiology. Before pacemakers were available, there was no treatment for diseases that produced a…
Congenital Heart Disease
Congenital Heart Disease Why are some children born with abnormal hearts? Sometimes we can answer this agonizing question; sometimes we can’t. Certain infections during early fetal life can produce various…
Imaginary Heart Disease
Imaginary Heart Disease Syndrome X A 50-year-old woman feels pain behind her breastbone when she walks or cleans house. The pain is pressing, “like someone squeezing her chest.” When she…
