Lilly. Pathophysiology of Heart Disease

[Guest Ian Wong]

Cardiovascular:

 

Pathophysiology of Heart Disease, 2nd Ed. Lilly, L. S. 1998. Williams & Wilkins. Baltimore, Maryland.

 

ISBN: 0-683-30220-5

Chapters/Indigo.ca price: $61.80

Pages: 401

 

Lilly is another excellent textbook, and it's one that I would put in the same category as Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple; it is that good. Lilly was a collaborative project between medical students and clinical faculty, and as a result, the material is pitched to a level that is perfect for a medical student to understand and integrate, versus a book that a specialist would feel comfortable using. Although Lilly is a pathophysiology book (technically it discusses the evolution of the disease process: the physiology of pathology), Lilly first describes the relevant physiology, including important details like preload/afterload, stroke volume and pressure curves, electrical conductance in the myocardium, and pretty much everything else important.

 

Its like getting a physiology and a pathology book all in one. The reason is that its often impossible to understand pathology without a good grasp of the underlying physiology, so Lilly gives you both. The material is so well-presented that it's extremely easy to read; you can easily cover a 20-30 page chapter for the first time (and understand it!) in under an hour.

 

In addition to the pathophysiology of common cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, valvular diseases, cardiomyopathies, and peripheral vascular diseases, there is also a chapter dedicated to cardiac pharmacology for treatment, and another chapter for congenital abnormalities of development (eg. ventricular septal defect, tetralogy of Fallot, aortic coarctation, etc). Another useful chapter details the physiology behind the electrocardiogram (EKG) and gives a systematic way to read and interpret them. This is extremely useful as understanding EKGs and incorporating them into a diagnosis is very difficult and complicated when you start out.

 

As a result, I really think that Lilly is a complete textbook that covers most, if not all topics that you will encounter during your Cardiovascular block. Perhaps the only criticism of this well-written, concise, and easy to read book is the lack of colour diagrams. The entire book is black and white, but the diagrams are frequent and easily understood. Again, this is a must-have textbook that you will consistently find useful throughout your Cardiovascular block. Buy it and use it often.