What is Clinical Cardiology and Electrocardiography, 1st Edition?
Clinical Cardiology and Electrocardiography is a practical cardiology reference focused on history-taking, cardiovascular examination, blood pressure assessment, ECG interpretation, ischemic heart disease, and peripheral arterial disease. The book is primarily intended for medical and cardiology residents in the early stages of training, while also offering useful clinical revision for students and practicing physicians.
Introduction
Clinical Cardiology and Electrocardiography is a clinically oriented medical reference that brings together two fundamental components of bedside cardiovascular practice: systematic cardiac examination and electrocardiography.
Rather than attempting to cover every area of modern cardiology, the book concentrates on the practical assessment of patients through history-taking, physical examination, blood pressure evaluation, cardiac examination, and ECG interpretation.
The book was developed from the author's extensive teaching experience in clinical cardiology. Its stated purpose is to serve as a bedside guide, particularly for MD (Medicine) residents and cardiology residents during the early part of their training.
The preface emphasizes the importance of recognizing common cardiac problems and approaching ECG-related emergencies logically and scientifically so that diagnosis and treatment can be initiated without unnecessary delay.
This focus makes the book particularly relevant to medical students, interns, residents, young physicians, and healthcare professionals who want to strengthen their approach to cardiovascular examination and ECG interpretation.
The book also reflects an important clinical principle: sophisticated investigations do not eliminate the value of careful history-taking and physical examination.
Its opening clinical discussion stresses that history and examination can provide important clues to cardiac and peripheral vascular disease even in an era of electronic and computer-based diagnostic tools.
Book overview
|
Detail |
Information |
|
Full
title |
Clinical Cardiology: History-Taking,
General Physical Examination (Cardiology-Related), Cardiac Examination and
Electrocardiography |
|
Edition |
First eBook Edition |
|
Publication
year |
2024 |
|
Author |
BS Cheema VSM, MD (Medicine), DM
(Cardiology), FACC (USA), FICC, FICP |
|
Assisted
by |
Munish Sharma, MBBS, MD (Medicine),
DNB (Cardiology) |
|
Publisher |
CBS Publishers & Distributors
Pvt. Ltd. |
|
Specialty |
Clinical cardiology and
electrocardiography |
|
Primary
audience |
MD (Medicine) residents and
cardiology residents in the initial stages of training |
The publication information identifies BS Cheema VSM as the author and Munish Sharma as the assisting contributor. The author is described as a former senior adviser in medicine and cardiology and a professor/senior consultant cardiologist at several institutions.
The book was published by CBS Publishers & Distributors Pvt. Ltd., and the first eBook edition is dated 2024.
The book's stated educational purpose is especially clear in the preface: it is intended as a bedside guide for medicine and cardiology residents, particularly during the early part of their training.
WHAT THIS BOOK COVERS
The organization of the book is relatively focused. It contains two principal sections: Physical Examination and Electrocardiographic Recording.
The contents list seven main chapters, beginning with history-taking and progressing through general examination, blood pressure evaluation, cardiac examination, ECG interpretation in non-ischaemic heart disease, ECG changes in ischaemic heart disease, and peripheral arterial disease.
1. History of Present Illness
The first chapter establishes the clinical approach to patients with suspected cardiovascular disease. It discusses important presenting symptoms including dyspnoea, chest pain, syncope, palpitations, oedema, fatigue, fever, and intermittent claudication. The book also emphasizes reviewing lifestyle, dietary habits, medication use, and previous illnesses.
Dyspnoea is discussed in relation to cardiac and respiratory causes, including acute pulmonary oedema, acute pulmonary embolism, chronic left ventricular failure, congestive cardiac failure, COPD, and interstitial lung disease. The book also reviews clinical patterns such as orthopnoea, trepopnoea, and platypnoea.
Chest pain receives substantial attention, including clinical features of angina, functional classification, acute coronary syndromes, and alternative cardiac and non-cardiac causes.
Syncope, palpitations, oedema, fever, and intermittent claudication are also incorporated into the history-taking framework.
2. General Physical Examination: Clues to Cardiac Disease
The second chapter extends the assessment beyond the cardiovascular system itself. It describes how general appearance, body habitus, posture, gait, fundus examination, oral examination, eyes, cyanosis, oedema, hands, clubbing, skin findings, and fever can provide clues to cardiovascular disease.
The discussion includes clinical associations involving conditions such as Marfan syndrome, infective endocarditis, cyanotic congenital heart disease, Eisenmenger syndrome, rheumatic heart disease, and congestive cardiac failure.
This section demonstrates the book's bedside orientation: the clinician is encouraged to extract diagnostic information from the entire patient rather than relying exclusively on cardiac investigations.
3. Blood Pressure Evaluation
Blood pressure assessment receives a dedicated chapter. The book explains the relationship between cardiac output, stroke volume, heart rate, and peripheral vascular resistance, followed by practical instruction on cuff selection, patient positioning, Korotkoff sounds, and measurement technique.
It also discusses:
- Correct cuff dimensions
- Technique of blood pressure measurement
- Standing blood pressure
- Unequal blood pressure between the arms
- Lower-limb blood pressure
- Pulsus paradoxus
- Blood pressure alternans
- Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring
- Home blood pressure measurement
- Pseudohypertension
- Ankle–brachial index
The practical nature of this chapter is particularly useful for learners who need to translate cardiovascular examination principles into routine clinical practice.
4. Examination of the Heart
The fourth chapter is devoted to the physical examination of the heart. It covers inspection and palpation of the precordium, assessment of the apex beat, jugular venous pulse, arterial pulse, heart sounds, and cardiac murmurs.
The discussion of the apex beat includes different patterns such as tapping, thrusting, heaving, and double apical impulses and relates these findings to specific cardiac conditions.
The book also provides a detailed approach to the jugular venous pulse, including examination position, waveform components, and measurement.
Cardiac murmurs are approached according to their timing, location, intensity, and clinical associations. Examples include murmurs associated with aortic stenosis, hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, mitral regurgitation, mitral valve prolapse, pulmonary stenosis, atrial septal defect, and ventricular septal defect.
The chapter therefore serves as a practical bridge between cardiovascular physiology and bedside diagnosis.
5. ECG of Non-IHD Cases
The fifth chapter introduces electrocardiography as an integral part of clinical cardiac assessment. The book lists numerous situations in which ECG examination is considered relevant, including suspected ischaemic heart disease, hypertension, rheumatic fever, congenital heart disease, syncope, palpitations, irregular pulse, bradycardia, tachycardia, heart failure, pacemaker assessment, and preoperative evaluation.
The chapter addresses the electrical activity of the heart and proceeds into practical ECG interpretation.
Topics include rhythm abnormalities, conduction disturbances, chamber enlargement, ventricular hypertrophy, supraventricular tachycardias, atrial flutter, atrial fibrillation, ventricular premature complexes, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, and cardiac arrest.
For example, the book describes ECG features associated with ventricular tachycardia and emphasizes the clinical urgency of patients presenting with suspected VT, particularly when accompanied by syncope, hypotension, or marked tachycardia.
6. ECG Changes in Ischaemic Heart Disease
The sixth chapter focuses specifically on ECG findings in ischaemic heart disease. The book categorizes IHD presentations into stable angina, unstable angina, ST-elevation myocardial infarction, non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction, and other clinical presentations including microvascular angina, cardiomyopathy, ventricular arrhythmia, and sudden death.
The discussion includes:
- ECG findings in stable angina
- ST-segment depression
- T-wave abnormalities
- Acute myocardial infarction
- ST-segment elevation
- Reciprocal changes
- Pathological Q waves
- Hyperacute T waves
- ECG evolution following myocardial infarction
- Selected differential diagnoses of ECG abnormalities
The chapter is therefore particularly relevant for clinicians who need to recognize important ECG patterns associated with myocardial ischaemia and infarction.
7. Peripheral Arterial Disease
The final clinical chapter extends the cardiovascular examination to the peripheral circulation. It discusses diminished arterial pulses, differences in blood pressure between limbs, intermittent claudication, ankle–brachial pressure index, limb temperature, muscle wasting, numbness, gangrene, and Raynaud's phenomenon.
The chapter also addresses causes and risk factors for peripheral arterial disease and includes discussion of diabetic foot disease and venous disorders.
Key Features
- Strong emphasis on bedside cardiovascular examination
- Dedicated discussion of cardiovascular history-taking
- Practical assessment of common cardiac symptoms
- Detailed approach to blood pressure measurement
- Examination of the apex beat and jugular venous pulse
- Discussion of arterial pulse abnormalities
- Systematic consideration of cardiac murmurs
- Dedicated ECG section for non-ischaemic cardiac conditions
- Separate treatment of ECG changes in ischaemic heart disease
- Coverage of important rhythm and conduction abnormalities
- Discussion of ventricular arrhythmias and ECG emergencies
- Dedicated chapter on peripheral arterial disease
- Figures and ECG examples are incorporated throughout the text
- A conventional contents structure and index support navigation
The index demonstrates the breadth of ECG terminology addressed, including sinus bradycardia, sinus tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, torsades de pointes, ventricular tachycardia, ST-segment abnormalities, Q waves, T waves, and multiple cardiac examination findings.
Who Should Read This Book
Medical Students
Medical students can use the book to reinforce the fundamentals of cardiovascular history-taking and examination. Its organization around symptoms, physical signs, blood pressure, heart examination, and ECG interpretation makes it relevant to clinical medicine teaching.
Residents
Residents are the primary audience identified by the author. The preface specifically describes the book as a bedside guide for MD (Medicine) and cardiology residents in the initial part of their training.
Specialists
Junior specialists and physicians working in general medicine or cardiology may find the focused clinical examination and ECG discussions useful as a rapid reference, although the book's scope is narrower than that of a comprehensive cardiology textbook.
Nurses
Nurses involved in cardiovascular and acute medical care may benefit from the sections explaining symptoms, blood pressure measurement, cardiovascular signs, and ECG-related clinical presentations. However, the book's stated primary audience is medical and cardiology residents rather than nursing professionals.
Pharmacists
Pharmacists working with cardiovascular patients may find the clinical context useful, particularly where drug history and cardiovascular manifestations are discussed. The book, however, is not presented as a pharmacology reference.
Why This Book is Useful
The major value of Clinical Cardiology and Electrocardiography lies in its clinical integration.
A learner is not presented with ECG interpretation in isolation. The book first develops history-taking and physical examination, then introduces ECG recording and interpretation. This reflects the author's stated intention to combine clinical cardiology with ECG examination.
The approach is particularly relevant to situations in which clinicians must combine symptoms, physical signs, pulse findings, blood pressure, heart sounds, murmurs, JVP findings, and ECG abnormalities.
The book also gives attention to time-sensitive cardiac presentations. Its discussion of myocardial infarction and ventricular tachycardia emphasizes urgent clinical assessment and management.
One important qualification is that the book itself does not claim to be a contemporary guideline or systematic evidence-review text. Therefore, readers should regard it primarily as a clinical teaching and bedside reference rather than assume that every management recommendation represents current international guideline practice.
Table of Contents Overview
According to the contents, the book is organized as follows:
Section 1: Physical Examination
- History of Present Illness
- General Physical Examination: Clues to Cardiac Disease
- Blood Pressure Evaluation
- Examination of Heart
Section 2: Electrocardiographic Recording
- ECG (Electrocardiography) of Non-IHD Cases
- ECG Changes in Ischaemic Heart Disease
- Peripheral Arterial Disease
The book also contains suggested reading and an index.
Strengths of The Book
The clearest strength is its practical orientation. The book is not organized as an encyclopedic survey of all cardiology subspecialties. Instead, it concentrates on skills that clinicians repeatedly use at the bedside.
Another strength is the connection between examination findings and ECG interpretation. The author explicitly presents ECG recording as closely integrated with clinical cardiac examination.
The dedicated treatment of common symptoms such as dyspnoea, chest pain, syncope, palpitations, oedema, and claudication also gives the reader a symptom-based entry point into cardiovascular diagnosis.
The cardiac examination section is another notable strength. Discussion of the apex beat, JVP, pulse characteristics, heart sounds, and murmurs provides a broad framework for bedside cardiovascular assessment.
Finally, the book includes numerous ECG examples and figures, which can make the material more useful for learners developing visual pattern-recognition skills.
Limitations
The book's focused scope is also its main limitation. Based on its contents, it is primarily concerned with clinical examination, ECG interpretation, ischaemic heart disease, and peripheral vascular assessment.
It should therefore not be considered a comprehensive textbook covering the full spectrum of contemporary cardiology.
The book does not present itself as a dedicated guideline, systematic review, or comprehensive evidence-based management reference.
Consequently, readers seeking detailed contemporary guidance on interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, advanced imaging, structural heart disease, heart failure management, or other specialized areas will need additional references.
The publisher's disclaimer also notes that medical science and technology continue to change and that inadvertent errors, omissions, or inaccuracies may remain in the text.
Comparison With Similar Books
The book is best understood as a focused clinical cardiology and ECG teaching reference, rather than a comprehensive cardiology textbook. Its strongest emphasis is on bedside examination and ECG interpretation.
Clinical Cardiology and Electrocardiography, 1st Edition
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FAQs
Clinical Cardiology and Electrocardiography focuses on cardiovascular history-taking, general physical examination, blood pressure assessment, cardiac examination, ECG interpretation, ischaemic heart disease, and peripheral arterial disease.
The author specifically identifies MD (Medicine) residents and cardiology residents in the initial part of their training as the principal intended readers. Medical students, interns, and young physicians may also find its clinical approach useful.
The publication information identifies it as the First eBook Edition, published in 2024.
Yes. ECG recording is a major component of the book. It includes a chapter on ECG findings in non-ischaemic heart disease and another dedicated to ECG changes in ischaemic heart disease.
Yes. The ischaemic heart disease section discusses ECG findings associated with acute myocardial infarction, including ST-segment elevation, hyperacute T waves, reciprocal changes, pathological Q waves, and the evolution of ECG abnormalities.
Yes. Cardiac examination is a major component and includes assessment of the precordium, apex beat, JVP, arterial pulse, heart sounds, and cardiac murmurs.
Yes. The seventh chapter addresses peripheral arterial disease, including diminished arterial pulses, intermittent claudication, ankle–brachial pressure index, limb ischaemia, gangrene, Raynaud's phenomenon, and diabetic foot disease.
No. Based on its documented contents, the book is a focused clinical reference centered on cardiovascular examination and ECG interpretation, with additional coverage of ischaemic heart disease and peripheral arterial disease. It should not be treated as a comprehensive reference covering every cardiology subspecialty.
Conclusion
Clinical Cardiology and Electrocardiography is a focused clinical cardiology reference built around skills that remain central to everyday cardiovascular assessment: careful history-taking, physical examination, blood pressure measurement, cardiac examination, and ECG interpretation.
Its structure moves logically from the patient's presenting symptoms to general physical findings, cardiovascular examination, ECG interpretation, ischemic heart disease, and peripheral arterial disease.
For medical students and junior doctors, the book offers a practical framework for connecting symptoms and physical signs with ECG findings.
For medicine and cardiology residents, its intended audience, it is particularly suited to early clinical training and bedside revision. The inclusion of ECG examples and discussions of important arrhythmias and ischemic patterns further strengthens its practical teaching value.
At the same time, readers should understand its scope. It is not presented as a comprehensive cardiology textbook or a current guideline compendium. Its greatest value is as a clinically oriented learning and bedside reference for cardiovascular examination and electrocardiography.
For readers looking to strengthen the fundamentals of clinical cardiology—especially the transition from history → examination → ECG → clinical interpretation—Clinical Cardiology and Electrocardiography can serve as a useful educational resource.
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