Bedside Cardiology

Technology is not a substitute for bedside cardiovascular exam. This book is an excellent text on the fine art of physical exam and auscultation. The text is comprehensive but does a great job of explaining the underlying pathophysiology which is the key to understanding and predicting the physical exam findings. The diagrams and photographs are very good. The references are old but I did not run across any major discrepancies with the modern literature.

I am cardiologist and teacher of clinical examination of the heart and circulation for student and clinicians. Therefore I have done a lot of reading on the subject. The content presents peripheral signs as well direct phenomena in a well-blanced way. It is important that emphasis is put on peripheral signs as they often supply the deciding clues for the correct diagnosis. Peripheral signs are for example completely undervalued in German literature on the subject. What I miss a little bit is what you find in recent German books by H. Blömer and P. Franke(unfortunatly not published anymore)are special chapters on disease entities as for example aortic stenosis. This would nicely integrate the aformentioned knowledge of the general part to allow more description for natural course and grading of severity. Too bad the last chapters are still "under construction". The bibliography is excellent and gives a very good idea of how much has been done in the field. "Modern" cardiologists may therefore see how much scientific research has been undertaken and how well argued the book by Professor Constant is. The book presents an approach based on questions and answers. This may not be everybodies choice of an optimal didactic path. Nevertheless you can stick with it. Repetitions are helpful because they help to understand the complex materia. It is currently the best book on the market. It is also better than the book by J.K. Perloff because it takes a more scientific approach. A "must" for serious cardiologists.