Understanding Cardiac Electrophysiology. A Conceptually Guided Approach

Description

In the fast paced world of clinical training, students are often inundated with the what of electrophysiology without the why . This new text is designed to tell the story of electrophysiology so that the seemingly disparate myriad observations of clinical practice come into focus as a cohesive and predictable whole.

Presents a unique, conceptually-guided approach to understanding the movement of electrical current through the heart, the impact of various disease states and the positive effect of treatment.

Reviews electrophysiologic principles and the analytic tools which, when combined with a firm grasp of EP mechanisms, allow the reader to think through any situation.

Presents the mathematics necessary for the practice of cardiac electrophysiology in an accessible and understandable manner.

Contains accompanying video clips, including computer simulations showing the flow of electrical current through the heart, which help explain and visualise concepts discussed in the text.

Includes helpful chapter summaries and full color illustrations aid comprehension.

Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
About the companion website xi

Part I: Third-person omniscient (how we would see EP if we could see EP)
1 Ion channels 3
2 Action potentials 9
3 Propagation 19
4 Arrhythmia mechanisms 25
5 Anatomy for electrophysiologists 37

Part II: Doctor’s-eye view (dealing with incomplete knowledge)
6 Deducing anatomy 49
7 Electrical activity, electrodes, and electrograms 59
8 Electrogram analysis: understanding electrogram morphology 69
9 Differential diagnostic pacing maneuvers 79
10 Electro-anatomic mapping 99

Appendix: What we measure when we record an electrogram 109
Afterword: Your heart is a computer: from army ants to atrial fibrillation 115
Suggested reading 117
Index 119

Author

Peter Spector, MD
Director, Cardiac Electrophysiology and Cardiac Electrophysiology Laboratory,
Fletcher Allen Medical Center,
Fletcher Allen Professor, University of Vermont College of Medicine
Burlington, VT, USA