Management of Pericardial Disease

Eyal Herzog, MD, FACC, is Director of the Cardiac Care Unit at St. Luke's Hospital in New York. Dr Herzog received his medical degree from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. He is also an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital and completed fellowships in cardiovascular disease and advanced cardiac imaging at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital. Board certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular diseases, Dr Herzog has been an investigator in many clinical trials including many TIMI studies. He is the Course Director in Clinical Cardiology and Cardiac Care Advanced Clerkship at Columbia University in New York. Dr Herzog is the author of the recently published book "The Cardiac Care Unit Survival Guide". He is also the author of the books "Echocardiography in Acute Coronary Syndrome" and "Acute Coronary Syndrome-Multidisciplinary and Pathway Based Approached". He has also co-authored numerous peer reviewed journal articles. Dr Herzog is the recipient of numerous awards including the "teacher of the year award of the Department of Medicine at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital for the last 8 years and most recently the "Distinguished Young Physician of the Year" at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in 2010-2011.

Pericardial disease is a broad term that describes a wide range of pathologies. The clinical aspects of pericardial disease encompass acute pericarditis, pericardial tamponade, pericardial effusion, constrictive pericarditis, and effusive-constrictive pericarditis. Those disorders differ not only in clinical presentation but also in the timeline of disease development; for example, pericardial tamponade is commonly an acute, life-threatening event, whereas constrictive pericarditis is a chronic process developing over months to years. Therefore, pericardial disease management is challenging for most clinicians. The evidence base in the field is relatively scarce compared with other disease entities in cardiology. European Society of Cardiology released guidelines for the diagnosis and management of pericardial diseases. Currently there are no guidelines from American cardiology societies to help clinicians in dealing with pericardial disease. In this book, my goal is to provide extensive review of pericardial disease evaluation and management. A unified, stepwise pathway-based approach for the management of pericardial disease is provided at the end of the book.

Provides extensive review of pericardial disease evaluation and management

Anatomy and physiology of the pericardium.- History and physical examination of a patient with pericardial disease.- EKG in evaluation of pericardial disease.- Echocardiography in pericardial disease.- Cardiac catheterization evaluation of a patient with pericardial disease.- X-ray, CT and MRI in pericardial disease.- Pericarditis (Acute, Chronic) .- Constrictive pericarditis.- Pericardial effusion and tamponade.- Other diseases of the pericardium (Cysts, Malignancies) .- Drainage of pericardial effusion.- Surgical management of pericardial disease.- Pathway of the management of pericardial disease.