Authors: Stuart J. Hutchinson, MD, and Naeem Merchant, MD
Publisher: Elsevier Saunders – 572 pages

Book Review by: Nano Khilnani

This book provides the guidance and expertise you the student or practicing cardiologist needs to get high-quality images of the heart and the vessels in order to properly diagnose disease. It gives you the various do’s and don’ts in getting and interpreting cardiac computed tomography scans (CCTs), written by two cardiac imaging specialists.

The contents of this book, like most other Elsevier books, are available online. To get access, first redeem your PIN from the inside front cover of the book. Here’s what you do:

  1. Login or Sign Up at www.ExpertConsult.com
  2. Scratch off the gray stickler on the inside from cover to get your PIN code
  3. Enter PIN into the Redeem a Book Code box at the above website
  4. Click Redeem
  5. Go to My Library

Once you have logged in, these are the innovative features available to you online:

  • Seamless, real-time integration between devices
  • Straightforward navigation and search
  • Notes and highlights sharing with other users through social media
  • Enhanced images with annotations, labels, and hot spots for zooming on specific details*
  • Live streaming video and animations*
  • Self-assessment tools such as questions embedded within the text and multiple-format quizzes. *Some features vary by title

What is contained in this book? Below is a snapshot or bird’s eye view of what you will or won’t find in it:

  1. Introduction
  2. Overview of the Process, Exclusions and Risks, and Preparation
  3. Radiation and Radiation Risk
  4. Contrast Enhancement
  5. Noise and Artifacts
  6. CT Coronary Angiography
  7. CTA Assessment of Coronary Stents
  8. CTA Assessment of Saphenous Vein Grafts and Internal Thoracic (Mammary) Arteries
  9. Coronary Artery Anomalies of Origin and Course
  10. Coronary Artery Anomalies of Termination: Fistuale and Arteriovenous Malformations
  11. Coronary Artery Aneurysms
  12. Coronary Artery Dissections
  13. Coronary Ostial and Left Main Stem Lesions, Spasms, and Thrombus
  14. Determination of Coronary Calcium
  15. Pericardial Diseases
  16. Assessment of Native Cardiac Valves
  17. Assessment of Prosthetic Heart Valves
  18. Assessment of Infective Endocarditis and Valvular Tumors
  19. Assessment of Left Ventricular Function, Infarction, Perfusion, and Viability
  20. Assessment of Left Ventricular Structural Abnormalities
  21. Myopathies
  22. Electrophysiologic Applications of Cardiac CT
  23. Cardiac and Paracardiac Masses
  24. Simple Congenital Heart Disease
  25. Assessment of Complex and Repaired Congenital Heart Disease
  26. Aortic Diseases
  27. Assessment of Periphery Vascular Diseases
  28. Pulmonary Embolism and Other Pulmonary Artery Lesions
  29. Caval Anatomy: Variants and Lesions
  30. Noncoronary / Noncardiac Lesions

One outstanding feature of this book is its immense number and clarity of the images. Some are black-and-white, while others are two-color or multi-color. Most of the pages contain at least one image and some of them have as many as a dozen. In the captions, you will also find detailed descriptions of the conditions depicted in the photos.

The contents in the book – all types of textual and graphic materials such as boxes, charts, and tables – are presented in a very well-organized manner such that you can easily view, understand, and retain the information about, with less effort than you would with other books.

The order of material presentation in the chapters is superb. Here below is how the content in chapter 9 entitled Coronary Artery Anomalies of Origin and Course, is organized, typical of orderly organization in other chapters. It has the following features:

It begins with Key Points – a colored box with bullet points. A discussion that briefly presents the anomalies follows. Then these types of anomalies are presented:

  1. The most common coronary anomalies
  2. Terminology of anomalies of course
  3. Incidence of coronary artery anomalies
  4. Determining the clinical relevance of coronary artery anomalies
  5. Associations of coronary anomalies
  6. Anomalies of coronary ostia and course
  7. Congenital atresia or stenosis of s coronary artery
  8. Anomalous origin of coronary arteries from the pulmonary artery
  9. ACC/AHA 2008 guidelines for management of adults with congenital heart disease: recommendations for anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery
  10. ACC/AHA 2008 guidelines for management of adults with congenital heart disease: recommendations for congenital coronary anomalies of ectopic arterial origin
  11. Clinical features and evaluation of the un-operated patient
  12. 2011 ACCF/AHA guidelines for coronary artery bypass graft surgery
  13. CCT imaging of coronary anomalies

A large range of images are presented at the end of, and interspersed with discussions of the topics listed above.  A lengthy list of References is presented at the end of this chapter for your further study.

This is an excellent book on the subject of cardiac and vascular CT.

 

Authors:

Stuart J. Hutchinson, MD, FRCP (C), FACC, FAHA, FSCCT is Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Departments of Cardiac Sciences, Medicine, and Radiology at the University of Calgary; and Director of Echocardiography at Foothills Medicine Centre and Libin Cardiovascular Institute in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Naeem Merchant, MD, FRCP (C) is Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Departments of Cardiac Sciences, Medicine, and Radiology at the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.