State of the Heart: The Practical Guide to Your Heart and Heart Surgery

State of the Heart: The Practical Guide to Your Heart and Heart Surgery is the ultimate source of information for heart patients, their families, and anyone concerned with heart health. Written by respected cardiothoracic surgeon Larry W. Stephenson, M.D., with best-selling author Jeffrey L. Rodengen, State of the Heart's contributors list is a who's who of prominent surgeons from the world's leading cardiac care centers, with advice from many pioneers of heart surgery including Christiaan N. Barnard, Denton Cooley, Michael E. DeBakey, John Kirklin and C. Walton Lillehei.

Superbly illustrated chapters are supplemented with a running page-by-page glossary for easy reference and a comprehensive drug appendix.

Among the subjects covered in State of the Heart are:

• The dawn of open heart surgery.
• How your heart works.
• Signs and symptoms of heart disease.
• The top ten things you need to ask before cardiac surgery.
• Viagra, erectile dysfunction and heart disease.
• Balloon angioplasty and stents.
• Heart problems of infants and children.
• Fen-Phen and heart valve problems
• Wine, alcohol and your heart.
• Heart Surgery in the elderly.