State of the heart : exploring the history, science, and future of cardiac disease
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"The golden age of heart science is only just beginning. While heart disease has been around for a long time, the type of heart disease people have, why they have it, and how it's treated is changing. Yet the golden age of heart science is only just beginning. And with treatments of heart disease altering the very definitions of human life and death, there is no better time to look at the present and future of heart disease, the doctors and nurses who treat it, the patients and caregivers who live with it, and the stories they hold close to their chests. More people die of heart disease than any other disease in the world, and when a form of heart disease progresses, it can result in the development of heart failure. Heart failure affects millions and can affect anyone at any time: a child recovering from a viral infection, a woman who has just given birth, or a cancer patient receiving chemotherapy. However, new technology to treat heart failure is fundamentally changing what it means to be human. Mechanical pumps can be surgically sewn into patients' hearts, and when patients with these pumps get really sick, sometimes they don't need a doctor or a surgeon--they need a mechanic. In [this book], the journey to rid the world of heart disease is shown to be reflective of the journey of medical science at large. We are learning that women have as much heart disease as men, but that women experience their type of heart disease differently than men. We are learning that heart disease and cancer may have more in common than we thought. And we are learning how human evolution itself may have led to the epidemic of heart disease. In understanding how our knowledge of the heart evolved, State of the Heart traces the twisting and turning road that science has taken--filled with potholes and blind turns--all the way back to its very origin."--Dust jacket.