Editors Banyai and Gordon selected 22 papers presented at various courses sponsored by the American College of Chest Physicians in recent years as source material for this compendium.
The tradition of meticulous bedside evaluation of cardiac phenomena, the hallmark of the Samuel Levine-Proctor Harvey school, is exemplified in the remarkable lead essay by Perloff (a Harvey Protégé). With lucid diagrams, photographs, phonocardiograms, and annotated chest radiographs, he extolls the virtue of careful education of eyes, ears, and hands in the diagnosis of congenital heart disease. This is not to quarrel with catheters and cines, but to demonstrate how the disciplined clinician can come mighty close to cardiac truth—at the bedside.
Other outstanding papers are "Supraventricular Tachycardia With Ventricular Aberration" by Zinn; "Limits of Cardioversion" by Slodki; "The Use of Monitoring Devices in Acute Myocardial Infarction" by Grace; "Pharmacology of Hypertension with Special Reference to Cardiovascular Effects of Beta-Adrenergic Blocking