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202 Book Reviews Heart Lung and Circulation2005;14:201–203
of investigation and treatment. It is an American writtenbook, and so mentions the occasional drug not availablein Australia, and can use alternative units to those we arefamiliar with.This is a comprehensive textbook for the non-
cardiologist with an interest in cardiology. I feel it meetsthe objective of filling the gap between the major textsin cardiovascular medicine and the small cardiac manual,and is worthy of a place in a general medical library.
Paul WestRoyal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
Brisbane, Qld., AustraliaE-mail address: [email protected]
doi:10.1016/j.hlc.2004.12.005
Metabolic Cardiomyopathy, second ed.H. Bohles, A.C. Sewell (Eds.), Medpharm Scientific Pub-lishers, Stuttgart, 2004, ISBN 3887631048, $112.69.
This 166-page book consists of a series of articlesby authors from various German paediatric depart-
ments. It aims to provide practical information for physi-cians faced with diagnostic and therapeutic decisions inmanagingpatientswith inheritedmetabolic cardiomyopa-thy.
E-mail address: [email protected]
Available online 19 July 2005
doi:10.1016/j.hlc.2004.12.006
Cardiovascular Therapy: Evidence Based MedicineSchultz, Darius and Kober.
Evidencebasedmedicinehasbecomean important partof all our practices. Clinical decisions need to be
based on accurate information and keeping up with theplethora of trials and their implications can be quite timeconsuming. The authors of Cardiovascular Therapy haveattempted to make this process easier. Originally writ-ten in German, this book is as broad in its scope as it isthorough in detail. It provides an excellent overview of all-important trials and presents the information in a simpleand easy to follow manner.On first glance at this book I thought it was going to
be a tome full of useless facts and figures but was pleas-antly surprised, and now findmyself referring to it duringmy clinical practice. It is especially helpful when prepar-ing talks or if a patient arrives with some printouts off theinternet, the information is readily at hand. The book iswell laid out in easy to follow sections with numerous dia-grams and flow charts. The bibliography is extensive and
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The book covers disturbances of the carnitine systemas a cause of cardiomyopathy, defects in long-chain fattyacid oxidation, cardiac involvement in glycogen storagediseases, cardiomyopathies and mitochondrial defects ofoxidative energy metabolism, cardiomyopathy in congen-ital disorders of glycosylation, cardiovascular changes inthe mucopolysaccharidoses, cardiovascular involvementin Gaucher disease, a review of Fabry disease and associ-ated cardiomyopathy.An introductory chapter on the interdependency of var-
ious intracellular biochemical pathways such as the �-oxidation pathway, the urea cycle, the respiratory chain,gluconeogenesis, the carnitine pathway and ketogenesiswill appeal to clinicians who are notmetabolic physicians.In addition, inclusion of the natural histories of the car-diomyopathies covered in the text would help the readersto focus on conditions which may confront the neona-tologists, the paediatricians or adult cardiologists. Thelast chapter is a useful summary on laboratory diagnos-tic approach to inherited metabolic diseases presentingwith cardiomyopathy.This book should be of interest primarily to paediatri-
cians, paediatric cardiologists and metabolic physiciansand to a lesser-degree adult cardiologists.The book serves as a concise summary on the topic of
inheritedmetabolic cardiomyopathywith up to date refer-ences andwill be auseful addition to libraries inpaediatricdepartments and teaching hospitals.
Norman SadickWestmead Hospital, Sydney
NSW, Australia
extremely relevant.There is always a risk with a book such as this that the
information will become out of date reasonably quicklybut it seems that the authors are regularly updating andduring the time that it has taken me to prepare this bookreview, a new edition has arrived with helpful updates ona number of current topics.I recommend this book to anyone who needs to have a
relatively painless way of keeping up with the latest evi-dence and applying it to their clinical practice.
Duncan Guy2/58 Cecil Avenue, Castle Hill
NSW 2154, AustraliaPresent address: 16/1a Ashley Lane
Westmead 2145, AustraliaTel.: +61 9894 1966/9633 2244fax: +61 9894 1933/9891 5742
E-mail address: [email protected]
Available online 25 July 2005
doi:10.1016/j.hlc.2004.12.007
Oxidative Stress and Cardiac FailureMarrick L. Kukin, Valentin Fuster (Eds.), BlackwellPublishing Company; ISBN 0-87993-709-2.
his monograph is an up to date and very comprehen-sive review of the role of oxidative stress and heart
failure. It has a number of prestigious authors includ-ing Valentin Fuster, Michael Bristow and Henry Krum.It covers the basic science concerning the nature and
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Heart Lung and Circulation Book Reviews 2032005;14:201–203
mechanism of generation of oxygen radicals and variousinterventions to scavenge these radicals both in laboratoryexperiments and in clinical trials. Thematerial in this bookis organised under three headings: (1) Current concepts inheart failure, (2) Pathophysiology, clinical and laboratoryevidence of oxidative stress in heart failure, (3) Therapeu-tic pathways and modulation of oxidative stress.Someof thematerial covers highly specialisedbiochem-
istry and some covers clinical medicine and therapeutics.The practising clinician needs to be selective in grapplingwith the wide spectrum of information to avoid being putoff by highly technical biochemical jargon.Evidence of the important role of oxidative stress in
heart failure is agroupof studies showing increasedoxida-tive stress products including malondialdehyde (MDA)and isoprostanes such as Isoprostaglandin F2 in the serumof patients with advanced heart failure. These productsaccumulate as a result of cellmembrane lipidperoxidationcausedby free radicals. Importantly there is goodevidencethat part of the vasoconstrictive effect of angiotensin II islikely mediated by oxygen free radical-induced endothe-lial dysfunction. Furthermore catecholamines when oxi-dised also produce free radicals that can produce myocar-dial damage. These findings afford valuable insightsinto the therapeutic effects of beta blockers (especiallycarvedilol) and angiotensin receptor antagonists, both ofwhich reduce the production of free radicals.
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antioxidants themselves exert a favourable effect. Disappoint-ment from early clinical trials can certainly be attributed toineffective agents given in the wrong doses”. I believe theresults of current and future trials will prove the wisdomof these words. I have read this book from cover to coverand believe it is a landmark publication, not only becauseof the quality and scope of the material, but also becauseof its groundbreaking novelty. I would venture to sug-gest that this subject may not only be the topic of futuremonographs but oxidative stress in heart failure will inthe future be the subject of chapters in standard cardiol-ogy textbooks.
Conclusion
As cliniciansweneed to educate ourselves in this newareaof understanding of an increasingly prevalent condition.This book is a good introduction into the role of oxida-tive stress in heart failure for the practising cardiologist. Itprovides a plethora of up to date references on the subjectand I believe is useful for the present and will remain sofor some time to come.
Franklin RosenfeldtDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, CJOB Cardiothoracic
Unit, The Alfred Hospital, P.O. Box 315Prahran 3181, Australia
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It is critical to address the concern of many clinicianshat if oxidative stress is so important to heart failure, whyo many therapeutic trials of antioxidants in cardiovas-ular disease have been inconclusive or negative. In theoreword Jay Cohn states, “Still to be confirmed is whether
Tel.: +61 3 9276 3684; fax: +61 3 9276 2317E-mail address: [email protected]
Available online 26 January 2005
oi:10.1016/j.hlc.2004.12.011
