This book systematically focuses on central sleep apneas, analyzing their relationship especially with heart failure and discussing recent research results and emerging treatment strategies based on feedback modulation. The opening chapters present historical background information on Cheyne-Stokes respiration (CSR), clarify terminology, and explain the mechanics and chemistry of respiration. Following a description of the physiology of respiration, the pathophysiology underlying central apneas in different disorders and particularly in heart failure is discussed. The similarities and differences of obstructive and central apneas are then considered. The book looks beyond the concept of sleep apnea to daytime CSR and periodic breathing during effort and contrasts the opposing views of CSR as a compensatory phenomenon or as detrimental to the failing heart. The diagnostic tools currently in use for the detection of CSR are thoroughly reviewed, with guidance on interpretation of findings. The book concludes by describing the various forms of treatment that are available for CSR and by explaining how to select patients for treatment.

This is a concise review of up-to-date concepts and techniques in the discipline of heart transplantation. It is a review and reference for practitioners managing patients with advanced heart disease, including patients with end-stage heart failure, mechanical circulatory support or transplant recipients. Heart failure is a major public health issue, with a prevalence of over 5.8 million in the USA, and over 23 million worldwide, and rising. The lifetime risk of developing heart failure is one in five. Heart failure carries substantial morbidity and mortality, with 5-year mortality that rival those of many cancers. As heart transplantation remains the best treatment option for patients with end stage heart failure, this primer will provide valuable information and management strategies for physicians caring for these patients. Also, due to continued shortage in donor organs, heart transplantation is a limited resource – which further underscores the importance of appropriately evaluating patients for transplant candidacy and managing their pre, peri- and post-transplant care for maximum benefit and best outcomes.​

Heart failure affects over 5 million patients in the United States alone, and is a chronic and debilitating disease. While a number of pharmacologic therapies have shown varying degrees of effectiveness, many recent advances in the treatment of heart failure has focused on device based therapies. In Device Therapy in Heart Failure, William H. Maisel and a panel of authorities on the use and implementation of device based therapies provide a comprehensive overview of the current and developing technologies that are used to treat heart failure. Individual chapters provide an in-depth analysis of devices such as CRT’s and ICD’s, while broader topics such as the pathophysiology of heart failure and its current medical therapies are also discussed. Additional topics include Pacing and Defibrillation for Atrial Arrhythmias, Atrial Fibrillation Ablation, and Percutaneous Treatment of Coronary Artery Disease.

For many years, there has been a great deal of work done on chronic congestive heart failure while acute heart failure has been considered a difficult to handle and hopeless syndrome. However, in recent years acute heart failure has become a growing area of study and this is the first book to cover extensively the diagnosis and management of this complex condition. The book reflects the considerable amounts of new data reported and many new concepts which have been proposed in the last 3-4 years looking at the epidemiology, diagnostic and treatment of acute heart failure.