In the preface the editors state that their primary goal is to fill the niche between large hardcover textbooks and handbooks of cardiac anesthesia. The book is well organized with 11 sections and 66 chapters covering the basics such as anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology as well as complex topics such as pediatric cardiac anesthesia, cardiopulmonary bypass, and cardiac intensive care. A complete abbreviation glossary is provided at the beginning of the book, a useful tool for those unfamiliar with this arena.
Each chapter follows the same structure, facilitating browsing through different chapters, although the book relies heavily on tables and figures, which makes it an effective didactic teaching tool. Each chapter concludes with a useful key point section and provides a short, pertinent suggested reading list for those who want to expand their knowledge, including textbooks, articles, and updated Web sites.
Anatomy and physiology are covered in chapters 1 to 7. The authors of this section include specialists from different disciplines, including anesthesia, pathology, and cardiology. This team approach provides a broader coverage of the basic sciences.
The pharmacology section includes a succinct summary of the drugs used every day in the cardiac operating rooms. As a suggestion for future editions, making this information as well as many of the tables available in PDA compatible software is recommended and would be very helpful in the daily clinical work. The section finishes strong with a chapter devoted exclusively to the effects of cardiopulmonary bypass on drug pharmacokinetics.
The section on cardiac disease is excellent. In particular, the chapter on signs and symptoms of cardiac disease is one of the best this reviewer has seen. The next section entitled "Cardiac Surgery for Anesthetists" has very useful information, starting from the daily operating room routine written in very informal and entertaining way to a detailed review of ischemic preconditioning.
The monitoring section is clear and precise, often including pitfalls and limitations of modalities. However, here a selection of high resolution intraoperative transesophageal pictures would have enhanced the book enormously. Following this section, chapters on routine coronary heart surgery and anesthetic management for specific disorders, such as valvular heart disease, redo surgery, and aortic surgery, are presented.
The pediatric cardiac anesthesia section is one of the strongest of the book, providing a complete but succinct review of the different areas of congenital heart disease. Excellent tables and figures make this complex topic quite easy to be reviewed and mastered.
Following the book educational layout, the cardiopulmonary bypass section presents several easy to understand figures, schemas, and tables. The section starts with the very basics, describing a typical cardiopulmonary bypass system and proceeds to complex topics such as failure to wean from bypass, assist devices, and management of deep hypothermia and circulatory arrest.
The cardiac intensive care section covers not only the broad aspect of intensive care of postoperative cardiac surgery patient but resuscitation and end organ complication as well. What is amazing is that the authors are able to achieve this in only 28 pages.
The book finishes with a variety of miscellaneous topics, including adult congenital heart disease, pregnancy and cardiac surgery, regional anesthesia, and pain management. The last chapter includes an excellent review of cardiovascular disease implications for non-cardiac surgery and presents both guidelines and multifactorial cardiac risk indices in a straightforward and simple way.
In summary, this is not a book for those seeking a detailed description of cardiac anesthesia. Nevertheless, this is an excellent introductory text book for the trainee in cardiac anesthesia and is likely to become a classic in the resident or fellow library.
