Emergency physicians are usually the first to care for patients with emergency cardiac conditions. They must initiate therapy in a timely manner and must plan care in conjunction with cardiologists, who continue the patient's care. This issue has both emergency physicians and cardiologists as authors, reflecting the fact that both care for patients with cardiac emergencies. Physicians in both disciplines should benefit from the articles in this issue, resulting in better patient care.

Pregnancy stresses the heart and circulatory system. During pregnancy, blood volume increases by 30 to 50 percent. The amount of blood the heart pumps each minute also increases by 30 to 50 percent, and heart rate increases as well. These changes cause the heart to work harder, as do labor and delivery. This issue covers diagnosis and treatment of cardiac symptoms and cardiac emergencies during pregnancy.

This issue of Cardiology Clinics covers several interventional procedures for structural cardiac problems, including aortic and mitral valvuloplasty, percutaneous defect closure, percutaneous mitral repair, percutaneous perivalvular leak closure, and transcatheter aortic valve implantation. Anesthesia and imaging for structural heart intervention are also discussed, making this issue a valuable resource for cardiologists who perform interventional procedures or manage patients who undergo these procedures.

Cardiac CT obtains information about coronary arteries, great arteries and veins, and heart valves. It shows the location and extent of calcified plaque in the coronary arteries and helps detect coronary artery disease at an early stage, which neither traditional imaging techniques nor cardiac testing can do. Over the last decade technologic advances in CT angiography have been made at a rapid rate, and the new applications and refinements of existing technology continue to be made. This issue will help practicing cardiologists to keep up with the latest technology in this important and swiftly moving field.

Although heart failure typically begins with the left side of the heart, it is also important for cardiologists to understand right-sided heart failure, which is the inability of the right side of the heart to adequately pump venous blood into the pulmonary circulation. Right heart failure causes a back-up of fluid in the body, resulting in swelling and edema. This issue covers the normal right ventricle (RV), imaging of the RV, RV failure in a variety of settings, and tratmen tof RV failure, including interventions.

This issue of Cardiology Clinics, edited by Dr. Amal Mattu and Dr. John Field, focuses Emergency Cardiology. Topics include, but are not limited to: Evaluation of Chest Pain and Acute Coronary Syndromes; Evolving Electrocardiographic Indications for Emergent Reperfusion; Cardiac biomarkers in emergency care; Non-ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction; Cardiogenic Shock, Acute Dyspnea and Decompensated Heart Failure; Evolving Strategies for Management of Cardiac Arrest; Multidisciplinary management post-cardiac arrest; Acute Myopericardial Syndromes; Acute Valvular Heart Disease; Ventricular Arrhythmias; Atrial Fibrillation, A New Face of Cardiac Emergencies: HIV-Related Cardiac Disease; Cardiovascular Emergencies in Pregnancy, and Blunt Cardiac Trauma.

This issue of Anesthesiology Clinics covers the latest updates in cardiovascular anesthesia written by the world-leading experts on the topic. Procedurally-focused articles cover best practices in fluid and blood management, mechanical circulation support, anesthesia for robotic surgery, adult congenital heart surgery, transplantation and more. Achieve the best outcomes and keep current on this area of anesthesia practice.