Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapeutics

Rating:
Summary: The parts I read were exceptional
Review: I am an M.D. but not a cardiologist. I looked at this book for a very specific purpose. I wanted to learn about nutrients as adjunctive therapies in heart disease. My interest in this topic arose because a family member, who has CHF, is not getting adequate relief from his medical regimen. This text is clearly not a nutritional or alternative work; it is very mainstream and the vast majority of the text is devoted to usual pharmacotherapeutic topics. But unlike almost any other book I saw, this one devoted short, hightly focused, and serious review coverage to cardioactive nutrients like L-carnitine, fish oils, taurine, and coenzyme Q-10.

The parts I read were well written and well thought out. I also glanced through the rest of the book and it appears to be a text that the authors worked dilligently to make into something truly exceptional--not just a bunch of review articles thrown together. The entire book seemed to be nicely conceptualized and nicely laid out.

The truth is, I almost bought the book just out of interest, even though I do not practice and therefore had no direct need for it. My guess is that clinicians and fellows, especially cardiologists but probably also internists, and perhaps critical care specialists and some others as well, might find this a very interesting and helpful addition to their personal reference library.

As for the nutrients discussed in the book, I had previously done extensive literature searches in MEDLINE and came away impressed by the body of evidence suggesting that these may be helpful in many cases and harmful in practically none. After exploring the issue, I was frankly amazed that some of these nutrients are not more widely used as adjunctive therapies in many cardiovascular conditions. The evidence for efficacy is in many cases not yet unequivocal, but the safety is generally so high, and the cost so low, and the evidence for efficacy is in many cases quite suggestive and impressive. Given this, I suspect that a reasonable analysis of potential costs, risk, and benefits would, in many cases, come down in favor of supplementing traditional therapies with nutritional therapeutic agents.

But I digress. I certainly don't want to leave readers of this review with the impression that this is a flakey or lightweight book; it is not. The coverage devoted to the topics I mention is impressive but short, and the main focus is elsewhere.