The Cardiac Catheterization Handbook [antikvár]

FOREWORD The expansion and widespread application of cardiac catheterization throughout the world today could hardly ^ have been imagined by Werner Forssmann when, in 1929, he A was the first to pass a catheter into the heart of a living sj person—himself. For many years, cardiac catheterization re- C . mained primarily an investigative tool, but the precise infor- T mation concerning anatomy and physiology in patients with | < heart disease that cardiac catheterization procedures yielded If'" made possible the development of open heart surgery. Forss- ji.' mann's initial intent, as stated in his historic article published » ' in Klinische Wochenschrift in 1929, was to use cardiac catheter-ization as a therapeutic technique. In the last 15 years, cardiac catheterization has amply fulfilled Forssmann's dream, and r ¦ each month sees the addition of new therapeutic innovations ij . based on advanced catheter technologies. Cardiac catheterization is practiced in every major univer- ; sity hospital throughout the United States, and is rapidly , f;' expanding to the point where even moderate-sized commu- ' | nity hospitals have active programs of cardiac catheterization and angiography. This expansion of the field has led to r-' increased demands for training of physicians, nurses, and ^ technicians expert in the highly technical and demanding ^ | aspects of intravascular catheterization and angiography. , i' Dr. Morton Kern's The Cardiac Catheterization Handbook pro- ^ 1:1' vides an outstanding teaching manual for these individuals; this well-written and clearly focused book will be greatly enjoyed by all those who read it. So many aspects of cardiac catheterization and angiography cannot be explained simply through the use of description; this book has many excellent figures and diagrams that will help the reader to understand precisely what is meant in the text. Pressure tracings are