Cardiac Arrhythmias [antikvár]

Preface With the development of the catheter technique for recording His bundle electrocardiograms, 1968 ushered in a new era in cardiac electrophysiology. This was a giant step forward, which enabled the verification in man of the mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias derived from studies in isolated tissues and intact animals. In the past decade. His bundle recordings in conjunction with programmed stimulation studies of the heart have greatly enhanced our understanding of the mechanisms of various cardiac arrhythmias. Endocardial and epicardial mapping studies via electrode catheters and during open heart surgery, respectively, have provided another dimension to the understanding of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and ventricular tachycardia. These advances have led to an improved diagnostic capability and have also provided a rational basis for therapeutic innovations in management of cardiac arrythmias with old and new antiarrhythmic drugs, cardiac pacing, and surgical interventions. Besides providing general therapeutic guidelines, the electrophysiological studies have proved to be valuable in determining specific therapy for an individual patient. The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive overview of the present state of the art regarding the mechanism, diagnosis, and management of cardiac arrhythmias. Although it is a multi-authored book, the subject matter has been organized to provide a continuum of thought process throughout. The contents of this book have been divided into three sections. The section of Basic Electrophysiology consists of six chapters and deals with the electrophysiological basis for cardiac arrhythmias, normal propagation and electrophysiology of transplanted heart. The section on Bradyarrhythmias (Chapters 7 to 12) deals with disturbances in impulse generation and propagation. In addition, histological and electrophysiological correlations in atrioventricular and intraventricular conduction defects have been discussed in Chapter 10. The section on Tachyarrythmias (Chapters 13 to 34) provides a detailed discussion on supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia, and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. In each section, therapy and management of arrhythmias have been appropriately discussed, either at the end of each chapter or as a separate chapter. This book goes a step beyond other books on the subject as it deals with cardiac arrythmias from an electrophysiological perspective consisting of intracardiac recordings, in addition to the usual standard electrocardiographic findings. This book will be of value to the clinician as a summary of the state of the art and to the investigator as an indicator for future research pursuits. It should be of interest to the internist, cardiologist, cardiac-surgeon, electrocardiographer, electrophysiologist, medical student, resident, and intensive care nurse. Onkar S. Narula, M.D. vii