Immunology of Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

This attractive book by contributors from both sides of the North Atlantic documents the important new diagnostic and therapeutic immunologic developments in cardiovascular research and practice that promote better understanding of transplantation of the heart, connective-tissue disorders, postcardiac injury disorders, infective and post-infective disorders, Chagas cardiomyopathy, vasculitis, platelets, drugs, atherosclerosis, and other autoimmune changes associated with or responsible for diseases of the cardiovascular system. Although the evidence linking immunologic reactions to the pathogenesis of degenerative diseases, such as hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and cardiomyopathy, commonly seen in cardiological practice remains incomplete, knowledge of the basic immunologic principles presented in this scholarly book will prove diagnostically and therapeutically helpful to the clinician in his practical management of patients with such cardiovascular disease. For example, drugs, particularly antibiotics, anti-inflammatory agents, adrenergic neuronalblocking drugs (like α-methyldopa), and vaccines may cause hypersensitivity reactions in the heart, leading to myocarditis or cardiomyopathy. Pro