Heart Muscle Disease [antikvár]

Preface Twenty five years ago, cardiomyopathies or myocardopathies as they were sometimes called, were in very small print, and oftenjhe-terms myocarditis and cardiomyopathy were used interchangeably. Now definition and classification can be precise and terminology has been refined. Although a great deal still has to be learnt about the heart muscle diseases, they have now achieved the status of an important group of cardiovascular disorders. Their importance is out of proportion tjojbLÍL.ÍE.efliie.ncy.-b.ecause| the cardiomyopa_thies.jo.0Ítje.n_átta?.4^^ people?and áiré notable for sudden unexpected death, ancTTor intractable corigësdv^hjsarTf^^ than those^most commonly effected by coronary heart diseaseT"^ """" This book piresenFrâFânalysrs"lii3 review experts of the present knowledge about heart muscle diseases and employs the approach to classification and terminology now generally, though not universally, agreed. It will be apparent that mucfLjundagcgtgJ rgsgâ^ be done now that the clinical problems have been defined. In the future, the collaboration of molecukrJ?ioJo-gists.and.other basic scientists will be^needed to illuminate the dark places of our ignorance. Knowledge is promoted by the stimulus of argument and counterargument over controversial issues, and so, because of the importance of certain differing viewpoints on causation and function, the last two chapters deal with the significance of outflow tract gradients in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and with the infectious/immune theory of causation of dilated cardiomyopathy, respectively. The preface to the last two chapters (p. 155) will attempt to justify this selection. J.F. Goodwin