Perspectives in Medical Geography: Theory and Applications for Librarians, Cardiac Drugs: An Evidence-Based Approach and Atlanta's Living Legacy: A History of Grady Memorial Hospital and Its People

Abstract

The editors are Kanu Chatterjee, clinical professor of medicine, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, and emeritus professor of medicine, University of California–San Francisco; and Eric J. Topol, professor of translational genomics, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Scripps Research Institute, California. Chatterjee and Topol have recruited contributing authors, sixteen cardiologists and one pharmacist, from academic medical centers in Iowa, California, Ohio, and Minnesota. The editors intend to provide an evidence-based approach to the drugs used to treat specified clinical conditions in cardiovascular medicine. Heart failure, acute coronary syndromes, and pulmonary hypertension receive the strongest emphasis. Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone blocking medications, positive-inotropic agents, diuretics, and antihypertensive drugs are discussed in extensive detail, including pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, indications, contraindications, and dosages. Drugs in development are noted. The editors assert that the unique feature of the book is the detailed discussion of the guidelines of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association for the use of pharmacologic agents in various clinical conditions. An appendix with the full text of those guidelines and related book sections could have strengthened that focus. The first chapter, “Angiotensin, Aldosterone, and Renin Inhibition in Cardiovascular Disease,” provides a sound foundation with a discussion of the relevant pathophysiology and the validity of inclusive key studies. Chapter 2 proceeds with an in-depth analysis of “Positive Inotropic Drugs: A Limited but Important Role.” The chapter on antihypertensive drugs, coauthored by Chatterjee, includes highly detailed charts and a comprehensive literature review. This particular chapter includes a multitude of tables and more than eighty pages of text. Diuretics are covered separately in the next chapter. Chapters 5 through 11 focus on drugs for the most common cardiac conditions: dyslipidemias, diabetes and cardiodysmetabolic syndrome, acute coronary syndromes, dysrhythmia, heart failure, stable angina, and pulmonary hypertension. The text continues with a valuable chapter on cardiac drugs in pregnancy and lactation, noting that cardiac disease in pregnancy involves unique challenges and solutions. The last chapter by Topol on “Future Directions: The Role of Genetics in Drug Therapy” is disappointingly a two-page commentary with no references. Designed to provide easy-to-follow information with practical therapeutic guidance for clinicians, the book succeeds in presenting full-color illustrations, layout, and numerous tables. The literature reviews in general do not reflect an emphasis on the most current studies. The chapters lack consistency in depth of coverage, although that might not deter their usefulness. The index does not include abbreviations or cross-references but does helpfully distinguish figures and tables for quicker reference. Most of the figures and diagrams complement the ease of use as a handbook. The strength of this publication is in its visual presentations and in the chapters that succeed in presenting the more recent evidence in a convenient format for busy clinicians. This title is recommended for health sciences libraries serving medical and pharmacy schools, for hospital libraries, and for graduate schools educating advanced practice nurses and physician assistants. It is not recommended as a first purchase selection. Libraries and learners would find other concise clinical handbooks more useful, such as the eighth edition of Drugs for the Heart by Lionel H. Opie and Bernard J. Gersh (Saunders; 2013. ISBN: 978-1-4557-3322-4). As a secondary purchase, this title would also complement the more extensive Manual of Cardiovascular Medicine by Brian P. Griffin (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2012. ISBN: 978-1-4511-3160-4) and Mayo Clinic Cardiology: Concise Textbook by Joseph G. Murphy and Margaret A. Lloyd (Oxford University Press; 2012. ISBN: 978-0-1999-1571-2).