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Landmarks in Cardiac Surgery

Auckland, New Zealand

Authored by Stephen Westaby and Cecil Bosher
ISBN 1-899066-54-3, List Price £89.95
Isis Medical Media, Oxford, UK

I have spent many hours fascinated by the wealth of information contained in Stephen Westaby's historical account of the development of cardiac surgery which he has titled Landmarks in Cardiac Surgery.

The book is lavishly presented. It is divided into eight chapters commencing with the foundations of cardiac surgery and progressing through the evolution of cardiopulmonary bypass and myocardial protection to a more detailed presentation of the historical development of the treatment of the various subdivisions of the specialty, namely congenital heart defects, valvular disease, coronary artery disease and surgery of the thoracic aorta. The concluding two chapters explore the beginnings of cardiac transplantation and mechanical circulatory support. Each of the chapters concludes with a series of biographies including photographs of those pioneers in that particular section. The authors see fit to include a selection of cardiologists, biochemists and others who have contributed importantly to the development of cardiac surgery. Having chosen this course, there are bound to be many specialists in these associated fields who would be concerned at the selection. The biographies include material of a personal nature sent to the author on request, which is highlighted, and which adds interest to what otherwise could be a stereotyped presentation. Reproductions of title pages of important journal publications are also included.

The second half of the book is a little unexpected. It consists of over 300 pages of "landmarks articles" reproduced in full including any discussion included in the original publication. The final 20 pages contain an alphabetical list of the pioneers in cardiac surgery with brief, numbered, one-line statements of what the authors consider to be their contributions.

What then is my overall impression of this monumental work? It is very well written and contains a wealth of information and is very easy to read, particularly when one compares it with other historical accounts such as the recently published Evolution of Cardiac Surgery by Harris Schumacker.

My criticisms are few. The format leads to a significant amount of reduplication and there are some notable omissions as well as unexpected inclusions. This is the sort of book that can be picked up and read at any time with pleasure and opened at almost any page without the necessity to treat it as a text which must be read in sequence. I can strongly recommend it to the many cardiac surgeons interested in the history of their specialty.

This Article Extract Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Barratt-Boyes, S. B. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Barratt-Boyes, S. B.