Matters of the Heart
So You're Having Heart Cath and Angioplasty. By Magnus Ohman, Gail Cox, Stephen Fort, and Victoria K. Foulger. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 176 pages, $14.95. So You're Having Heart Bypass Surgery. By Brett C. Sheridan, Bernard S. Goldman, Tracey J.F. Colella, and Suzette Turner. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 176 pages, $14.95.
If you are one of the six million Americans requiring a cardiac procedure, two new books coauthored by UNC-Chapel Hill medical experts can prepare you for all aspects of the complicated procedures. The books are the first in a planned surgical series.
In America alone, an estimated one point two million heart catheterizations, a half million angioplasty procedures, and a half million bypass surgeries were performed in 2001, according to the American Heart Association. "I think the books will demystify these procedures and therefore diminish the anxiety and the fear that patients about to undergo them might have," says Brett Sheridan, assistant professor of surgery at Carolina.
Heart catheterization is essentially the procedure to diagnose a blocked blood vessel. It also provides information on how badly affected the heart is. If a blockage is confirmed, this may lead to angioplasty and, for more severe disease, heart bypass surgery. Angioplasty is the simpler procedure in which a balloon is inserted into the blocked vessel and inflated to relieve the blockage. But if three vessels are blocked, this is considered severe cardiac disease, and heart bypass surgery under a general anesthetic may be required. This surgery involves the more complicated procedure of removing a blood vessel from another part of the body and grafting it onto the heart in place of the blocked one.
Both books are written with the patient in mind and take a step-by-step approach through the disease itself, diagnosis, treatment options, and the procedures. The authors write in straightforward language intended for the nonspecialist but also define the medical terms so you know what you're hearing when the doctors talk among themselves.
The text is peppered with real-life snippets from patients who have undergone the procedures. One patient assures that "whatever I wanted in terms of pain relief they gave me." Another warns of having an unexpected side effect of heart bypass surgery — hiccups.
The books finish with chapters on rehabilitation which include the immediate
recovery period and medications. Not only are the Western medicines covered,
but so are some complementary therapies such as massage and reflexology
that have been shown to work in clinical trials. The authors include
these therapies primarily as a way to help reduce stress, as this can
help reduce blood pressure and pain.
Both books are available in bookstores or can be ordered directly from the publisher's web site, www.wiley.com.
Other Carolina authors are Magnus Ohman, chief of cardiology and director of the UNC Heart Center, and Gail Cox, cardiology nurse clinician and patient care coordinator.
