Clinical Anatomy Of The Heart

This book covers the latest information on the anatomic features, underlying physiologic mechanisms, and treatments for diseases of the heart. Key chapters address animal models for cardiac research, cardiac mapping systems, heart-valve disease and genomics-based tools and technology. Once again, a companion of supplementary videos offer unique insights into the working heart that enhance the understanding of key points within the text. Comprehensive and state-of-the art, the Handbook of Cardiac Anatomy, Physiology and Devices, Third Edition provides clinicians and biomedical engineers alike with the authoritative information and background they need to work on and implement tomorrow’s generation of life-saving cardiac devices.

​This heart anatomy book describes the cardiac development and cardiac anatomy in the development of the adult heart, and is illustrated by numerous images and examples. It contains 550 images of dissected embryo and adult hearts, obtained through the dissection and photography of 235 hearts. It has been designed to allow the rapid understanding of the key concepts and that everything should be clearly and graphically explained in one book. This is an atlas of cardiac development and anatomy of the human heart which distinguishes itself with the use of 550 images of embryonic, fetal and adult hearts and using text that is logical and concise. All the mentioned anatomical structures are shown with the use of suggestive dissection images to emphasize the details and the overall location. All the images have detailed comments, while clinical implications are suggested. The dissections of different hearts exemplify the variability of the cardiac structures. The electron and optical microscopy images are sharp and provide great fidelity. The arterial molds obtained using methyl methacrylate are illustrative and the pictures use suggestive angles. The dissections were made on human normal and pathological hearts of different ages, increasing the clinical utility of the material contained within.​

Considerable advances have been made in cardiology during the last few decades. In particular, there has been great progress in the field of coronary angiography both when combined with, and without, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic reso nance (MR) imaging. These techniques of modern imaging allow the cardiologist and coronary surgeon to study every cardiac structure in detail, both two- and three-di mensionally and from either side, to analyze the movements of the heart and valves, and to observe myocardial circulation and even myocardial metabolic processes. However, coronary heart disease, a multifactorial illness of the coronary vessels, still remains the most common cause of death in developed countries. In addition to the large group of patients suffering from coronary heart disease, there is a smaller group of children and adults who are in need of open heart surgery and,most frequently,valve surgery.Avery small number of individuals suffering from Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome still await competent surgical intervention. These three groups of patients have in common that, for them, meticulous preop erative diagnostics and preparation for surgery are urgently required. Any open heart surgeon who carri es out procedures in the coronary or interventricular grooves or on the atrial walls of the heart must take the normal and anomalous origins,courses, and terminations of cardiac vessels into consideration. Therefore, with the availability of precise anatomical and physiological data,operation time will be shortened, operative risks will diminish, and the safety of the operation for the patient will be greater.

The magnificent anatomic presentation in this book "The Heart and Cor onary Arteries" has a unique importance for surgeons. It is a fundamental contribution to the anatomy of the heart and great arteries as well, because of the analytical, detailed, and imaginative anatomic approach of the author. While surgery from time to time is influenced by the development of new physiologic principles and techniques, methods of intra- and post-operative support, and new diagnostic methodology, the excellence of its results con tinues to be related primarily to the precision and perfection of the opera tive procedure itself. The operative procedure can be precise and perfect only if it is based upon the surgeon's profound knowledge of normal anatomy, his understanding of the alterations in this normal anatomy by the pathol ogy with which he is dealing, and his ability to use this anatomic informa tion in organizing and effecting his surgical procedure. The cardiac sur geon, therefore, will find great rewards from intense study of this anatomic atlas. The cardiologist, the pediatric cardiologist, the anatomist, the pathol ogist, and students interested in cardiac disease will benefit to almost the same degree from a careful study of this work. May 1975 JOHN W. KIRKLIN, M. D.