Patient Studies in Valvular, Congenital, and Rarer Forms of Cardiovascular Disease: An Integrative Approach

A number of cardiology training programs emphasize coronaryartery disease whilst neglecting other aspects of cardiology suchas valvular, congenital heart or vascular disease. This bookattempts to redress this imbalance by reiterating the importance ofhistory and physical findings in detecting valvular, congenital orvascular disease and to correlate the clinical findings to invasiveand non–invasive studies. This approach will be useful tocardiologists in training particularly those sitting the CardiologyBoard examinations, where recognition of auscultatory findings isnow a requirement, and those with an interest in problemsolving.

Each of the 90+ patient studies follows a templated design andconsists of: history, physical examination, phonocardiography(whenever possible), ECG, Chest X–ray, echocardiography,hemodynamics, and, sometimes, angiography. These sections may ormay not be randomized and readers are challenged to write aninterpretation on each section as well as answering self–testquestions posed in the legends. Patient studies have been arrangedin approximately chronological order from 1966–2013 with emphasison establishing a likely diagnosis based on the available toolsthen in existence.

Test your problem solving skills, improve your knowledge, andprepare for Boards, with this collection of unusual and challengingpatient studies focused on the physical diagnosis of cardiovasculardisease. This book:

Contains over 90 case histories with self–test questionsdesigned to test the reader s knowledge and also reinforceclinical best practices Focuses on diseases of valvular, vascular or congenital origin,and on comparatively rare disorders/diseases, rather than coronaryartery disease, to help readers improve their skills atinterpreting and making decisions based on physical examination andbasic, non–invasive imaging modalities Pairs each with original materials – e.g. x–rays,echocardiograms, lab reports, charts so that readers canwork through their diagnosis using the same information as thephysician who treated the patient originally

Franklin B. Saksena, MD, CM, FACP, FRCP(C), FACC, FAHA and member of American Society of Echocardiography.

Dr. Saksena served as a Senior Attending Physician in the Department of Cardiology at Stroger Hospital of Cook County, Chicago for over 32 years. He remains active at Stroger Hospital of Cook County as a Voluntary Attending Physician in Adult Cardiology. While working for Cook County Hospital he was Director of the Cardiac Catheterization lab and for a period was Acting Chief of Cardiology.

Dr. Saksena is currently an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Northwestern University and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Rush Medical School. He also maintains a part–time private practice in Cardiology and Internal Medicine at Swedish Covenant Hospital and St. Mary of Nazareth hospitals.