Acute Coronary Syndromes
Acute Coronary Syndromes Jean Marie Blue Verrier Michaelene Hargrove Deelstra In 2005, there were an estimated 16 million people in the United States with coronary heart disease (CHD), translating to…
Exercise Testing
Exercise Testing Jonathan Myers Exercise testing is a widely used, noninvasive procedure that provides diagnostic, prognostic, and functional information for a wide spectrum of patients with cardiovascular, pulmonary, and other…
Cardiac Catheterization
Cardiac Catheterization Michaelene Hargrove Deelstra Carol Jacobson Cardiac catheterization is widely used for diagnostic evaluation and therapeutic intervention in the management of patients with cardiac disease. Nurses have an important…
Cardiac Electrophysiology Procedures
Cardiac Electrophysiology Procedures Susan Blancher The use of cardiac electrophysiology (EP) procedures includes diagnostic testing and interventional treatment procedures. In general, diagnostic EP studies are performed to determine an arrhythmia…
History Taking and Physical Examination
History Taking and Physical Examination Barbara S. Levine Assessment data, which are obtained from the patient’s history, physical examination, and diagnostic tests, are used to formulate clinical diagnoses, establish patient…
Heart Rate Variability
Heart Rate Variability Diana E. McMillan Robert L. Burr Heart rate variability (HRV) is the beat-to-beat variation of the cardiac cycle that results, in large part, from the interaction of…
Echocardiography
Echocardiography Peter J. Cawley Echocardiography (echo) is ultrasound technology as applied to imaging the heart and the associated great vessels.1 As cardiac catheterization and invasive angiography transformed our understanding of…
Radiologic Examination of the Chest
Radiologic Examination of the Chest Jon S. Huseby Denise LeDoux The chest radiography is one of the most common diagnostic tools used in the evaluation of cardiovascular disease and the…
Nuclear, Magnetic Resonance, and Computed Tomography Imaging
Nuclear, Magnetic Resonance, and Computed Tomography Imaging Laurie A. Soine Peter J. Cawley Many advances have been made in noninvasive cardiovascular imaging over the last 20 years. Fueled by scientific…
Laboratory Tests Using Blood
Laboratory Tests Using Blood Susan L. Reed Diagnosis, treatment, and management of patients require a multimodal, multidisciplinary approach. Along with an in-depth history and physical, the clinician frequently depends on…
