Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology

From The Critics

Reviewer: Jack Stanko, MS, MD(Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine)
Description: This book focuses on the clinical aspects of cardiac electrophysiology testing and interpretation. It is the second edition, and the first edition published in 1979 was much shorter.
Purpose: The purpose of this text is twofold: (1) to provide a better understanding of this field to internists and clinical cardiologists, and (2) to provide the essential basic information needed to perform and interpret these studies.
Audience: The text is geared toward the serious student at any level (physician, nurse, technician) in clinical cardiac electrophysiology. Given the highly technical basis of this information, I do not believe it is well suited for persons outside the area of cardiology.
Features: The text is well written and has many excellent electrophsyiology tracings, figures, and tables. It is well organized, with more than adequate quantity and quality of references. Some chapters are quite long, and new topics such as devices could have been discussed in their own chapters.
Assessment: Overall, this single-authored book is a tremendous accomplishment by a leading and eminent figure within the field of cardiac electrophysiology. This edition, although much more expanded than the first, still underemphasizes some important areas of clinical electrophysiology, i.e., devices and ablation. However, this may reflect the growth of this field rather than any shortcomings of the author. It is an excellent intermediate text that will be enjoyed and cherished by many students of the field regardless of their level of expertise.

Jack Stanko

This book focuses on the clinical aspects of cardiac electrophysiology testing and interpretation. It is the second edition, and the first edition published in 1979 was much shorter. The purpose of this text is twofold: (1) to provide a better understanding of this field to internists and clinical cardiologists, and (2) to provide the essential basic information needed to perform and interpret these studies. The text is geared toward the serious student at any level (physician, nurse, technician) in clinical cardiac electrophysiology. Given the highly technical basis of this information, I do not believe it is well suited for persons outside the area of cardiology. The text is well written and has many excellent electrophsyiology tracings, figures, and tables. It is well organized, with more than adequate quantity and quality of references. Some chapters are quite long, and new topics such as devices could have been discussed in their own chapters. Overall, this single-authored book is a tremendous accomplishment by a leading and eminent figure within the field of cardiac electrophysiology. This edition, although much more expanded than the first, still underemphasizes some important areas of clinical electrophysiology, i.e., devices and ablation. However, this may reflect the growth of this field rather than any shortcomings of the author. It is an excellent intermediate text that will be enjoyed and cherished by many students of the field regardless of their level of expertise.

From The Critics

New edition of a text that provides the early career stage clinical electrophysiologist with an electrophysiologic approach to arrhythmias. It stresses the methodology required to define the mechanism and site of origin of arrhythmias so that safe and effective therapy can be utilized. In the 14 chapters, Josephson (Harvard Medical School) discusses the technical and general aspects of electrophysiologic investigation, sinus node function, atrioventricular conduction and miscellaneous related phenomena, intraventricular conduction disturbances, ectopic rhythms and premature depolarizations, supraventricular tachycardias, atrial flutter and fibrillation, preexcitation syndromes, recurrent ventricular tachycardia, catheter and surgical ablation, and evaluation of antiarrhythmic agents and of electrical therapy. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Provides the internist and clinical cardiologist with the means to understand the capabilities and limitation of clinical cardiac electrophysiologic techniques so as to enable them to select patients who will benefit from such studies; and provides the essential information to understand the technical aspects of performing electrophysiologic studies in order to perform safe and reproducible studies which can provide the basis for clinical decision making. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

3 Stars from Doody