Book Review

Valvular Heart Disease

N Engl J Med 1995; 333:395August 10, 1995

Article

Valvular Heart Disease
(Fundamental and Clinical Cardiology. Vol. 20.) Edited by Muayed Al Zaibag and Carlos M.G. Duran. 723 pp., illustrated. New York, Marcel Dekker, 1994. $195. ISBN: 0-8247-8861-3

This book is number 20 in a series of textbooks reviewing fundamental and clinical cardiology. The editors, who are physicians in Saudi Arabia, have extensive personal experience with valvular heart disease, which enables them to write with conviction about the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac-valve problems. In addition, they have assembled an international group of clinicians to contribute to other segments of the book. Despite the multiple authors, there is relatively little repetition. Overall, the quality of the illustrations is good, and they have been well chosen to clarify or amplify a given point.

Particularly informative chapters are those discussing cardiac pathology, echocardiography, pregnancy and heart disease, and the assessment of left and right ventricular function in patients with valvular heart disease. The chapter on electrocardiography is disappointing; the illustrations are poor, some well-known electrocardiographic concepts are confused (left ventricular hypertrophy with a systolic versus a diastolic loading pattern), and the misspellings are distracting.

This book would be informative to house officers, general internists, and family physicians but would probably be of limited interest to the practicing cardiologist. The price may dissuade potential readers.

William P. Nelson, M.D.
St. Joseph's Hospital, Denver, CO 80218