Introduction Although mortality from coronary artery disease (CAD) has declined in the United States, sudden cardiac death (SCD; see Chapter 79 ) remains a major clinical problem, with a reported range of 184,000 to 462,000 deaths occurring annually. , Strategies…
Mechanism-Based Approach to Treatment of Arrhythmias Elucidating the Underlying Pathophysiologic Mechanisms of Arrhythmias Antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs) remain an important therapeutic option for the treatment of acute and chronic atrial and ventricular arrhythmias despite recent advances in catheter ablation and surgical…
Acknowledgments We thank Margot M. Bartelings for support and useful comments while preparing the anatomy and embryology part of the manuscript and for her help in making the morphologic photographs, and Ron Slagter for help in preparing the figures. The…
Introduction The last 3 decades have seen major improvements in the preoperative, surgical, and longer-term management of children undergoing congenital cardiac surgery, resulting in an ever-expanding population of young adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD). A regional longitudinal analysis in…
Unique Aspects of Pediatric Electrophysiology Although the basic principles of cardiac electrophysiology (EP) apply broadly across the age spectrum, several distinctive characteristics of the pediatric population deserve emphasis. These begin at the cellular level, with differences in the action potential…
Introduction The field of hematology and oncology is one the fastest growing and ever-evolving fields in medicine. In the past decade, substantial improvements in the diagnosis, and more importantly, the treatment of various hematologic and oncologic malignances have led to…
Electrophysiologists are routinely tasked with the management of arrhythmia in the setting of an underlying acute or chronic neurologic disturbance. The underlying neurologic diagnosis often carries important implications regarding the permanence, rate of progression, and prognosis of the arrhythmic manifestations.…
Acknowledgments This work was supported in part by an Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) grant (10-IAHU04-LIRYC). F.D.R. was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of…
Obstructive Sleep Apnea Pathophysiology OSA is characterized by the failure of neuromuscular mechanisms governing upper airway patency during sleep, resulting in airway narrowing or collapse. Although apnea can occur in any position, the upper airway is more vulnerable to obstruction…
Introduction Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease of unknown etiology, defined histologically with noncaseating granulomas and subsequent tissue scarring. Sarcoidosis most commonly involves the lungs but can be seen in virtually all organ systems, including eyes, skin, liver, lymph nodes, the…