Basic Cardiac Electrophysiology for the Clinician

Entering the 21st century, one of the major health problems in society and clinical practice concerns the electrical diseases of the heart. Future progress in electrophysiology depends on enhanced understandings of the fundamental mechanisms underpinning the heart's electrical behaviour, and the development of new clinical applications, radiopharmaceuticals and technology. This work addresses the widening intellectual gap between basic and clinical electrophysiology by focusing on practical understandings about bioelectrical phenomena, cardiac excitation, and arrhythmias. Using simple language and visual aids, this work aims to enrich the medical community with its thorough understanding of the basic principles for rational management of today's cardiac patients. The authors present new products and applications in the field of nuclear medicine in context with existing techniques and applications. For a general audience that includes clinical cardiologist, internists, cardiology fellows resident or medical students, this book presents the biophysical bases of normal and abnormal cardiac electrical excitation and propagation. By maintaining an appropriate degree of detail to maintain a comprehensive electrophysiology knowledge base, this work provides the common ground for a multi-disciplinary approach by clinical and basic investigators. As such, basic electrophysiology will play an major role in the future of clinical electrophysiology, from applications to diagnosis and therapy.