Understanding Heart Disease.

The author, a heart specialist, presents an authoritative and balanced explanation of the heart, its diseases, and currently available medical technologies in clear language accessible to lay readers. Beginning with a description of the normal heart's structure and function, he then turns to the diagnosis of heart disease, including the use of such diagnostic tools as echocardiography, coronary arteriography, magnetic resonance imaging, CAT scan, and other current tests. He surveys treatments such as diet, exercise, use of drugs, and a variety of interventions, among them heart surgery.

He goes on to describe specific conditions, including arrhythmias, cardiac emergencies, and congenital heart disease, as well as diseases of the pulmonary circulation and aorta. He concentrates on the three diseases that account for the majority of heart problems: coronary artery disease, valvular disease, and hypertension. Coronary artery, or atherosclerosis, is probably the number one health problem in affluent populations, and the author explains its risk factors, the characteristic features of its acute and chronic forms, and preventive, diagnostic, and remedial treatment. He discusses valvular heart disease in light of present surgical techniques, and he examines the causes, the consequences, and the treatment of hypertension. A glossary is provided for the convenience of readers unfamiliar with medical terms.

Understanding Heart Disease is ideal for the nonmedical reader confronting heart problems or cardiac emergencies. A well-informed patient can cooperate more successfully with a physician, and the author helps readers to understand heart conditions and the choices that they must make.

Dr. Selzer served for 25 years as Chief of Cardiology at the Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center in San Francisco. He was Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California School of Medicine in San Francisco and the author of three books, including The Heart: Its Function in Health and Disease California, 1966), over 200 scientific articles, and the section on the circulation of blood in the Encyclopedia Britannica.