A Colour Atlas of Cardiac Pathology [antikvár]

Preface This atlas is planned as a visual aid in Cardiac Pathology and not as a textbook. It is aimed at a mixed readership of senior clinical students, junior pathologists in training and other hospital staff interested in the subject. This may have resulted in sections which are too detailed for some readers and over-simplified for others. In compiling this book the two major problems have been the availabihty of material and the limitation on selection due to restricted space. In general it is hoped that pictorially the topics are adequately covered although some omissions have been inevitable. For instance, aortic and great vessel disorders have only been included when associated with heart disease or when otherwise considered relevant. Common conditions have been described generally in greater detail than rare conditions, but the latter have been included when considered of educational value. A large section has been devoted to ischaemic heart disease in view of its frequency and importance in many parts of the world. As selection must be personal I have on occasion indulged in special interests, acknowledging that this may alter the overall proportion of subjects. For instance, X-rays of the vasculature of the heart, which are not available collectively elsewhere, have been included in the hope that they will help in the understanding of myocardial infarction. Normal appearances are included where relevant. To illustrate the macroscopical appearances both necropsy and museum specimens are included to give the student preparing for examinations a knowledge of the colour range in both types of material. As students of histopathology are normally provided only with haematoxylin and eosin stained sections the majority illustrated in this atlas have been stained by this technique and special staining methods have only been used to illustrate specific points. Introductory texts to each chapter are brief, since students on questioning have indicated that they rarely read this part of the section. The legends describing the illustrations are of necessity also short, but when read in sequence are intended to describe salient points of each condition or disease.