Edited by Alan Maisel and W Frank Peacock

Published by JP Medical Publishers http://jpmedpub.com/

Published December 2021 First Edition

ISBN 978-93-86322-24-1

Price £72

http://jpmedpub.com/bookdetails.aspx?SearchTxt=emergency%20cardiology&OBookID=3141

If you think about it, Cardiology can be thought of as a speciality that deals with chronic conditions but also includes a significant number of acute and urgent disorders. As you can guess from the title, this book devotes itself to the acute and emergency aspects of cardiology. It is a first edition and so to create a modern textbook like this is a significant and major undertaking. Well, the editors and contributing authors (mainly but not exclusively from North America) have done an excellent job.

The book is very readable, accessible and not overwhelming in its approach but within its 400 plus pages, there is very good coverage of a large number of emergency cardiology associated topics. The book is divided into four sections, namely cardiac arrest, acute myocardial infarction and acute coronary syndrome, acute heart failure and arrythmias; all very logical.

Individual chapters are well written and easy to read. Some of these topic areas cover areas not easily found, certainly within a dedicated a chapter in many standard texts. One good example is Chapter 3, which is an excellent review on biomarkers in acute care (Chapter 17 covers “other biomarkers”) and condenses basic facts into 7 pages which also includes a significant amount of references at the end. Chapter 6 covers Magnetic Resonance Imaging relevant to the topic of the book and although it is only 4 pages, it is an interesting read. Syncope and palpitations are covered in significant detail in their respective chapters.

Chapter 20 deals with Emergency Department based Acute Heart Failure treatment and again is another readable account. Whilst Chapter 25 deals in some details with hypertensive emergencies.  These are just examples of what is available and clearly there is a lot of relevant content in this book. In fact, interestingly one of the editors is a cardiologist whilst the other is an Emergency Medicine specialist. Both are Professors in the United States and clearly the readership of this book is aimed at these two specialties, and this is backed up by the variety and clarity of the content associated with the title of the book.

This is a first edition and deserves to do well and I am sure will evolve into future editions. The clarity and ease of reading shines through with a sense of enthusiasm and although this is not my direct specialty, I found the content interesting and fascinating. I would imagine the target audience would include trainees in Cardiology and Emergency Medicine all over the world. The book could be read in its entirety over a few weeks whilst it would also make a good specialised reference source which can be quickly dipped into.

I don’t think the book is expensive though it would be nice if it was bundled with a digital version for use as an app on a smart device such as a smartphone. But this is only a small criticism and I suspect this book will over the years, generate future updates which will be well appreciated by its target audience.

Dr Harry Brown 6^th May 2022