Michael S. Firstenberg

Endocarditis is a disease process that involves an infection of the heart, cardiac structures, or implantable cardiac support devices and can be a difficult clinical problem. As patients get older and have more comorbidities, their risks for infection increase. In addition, the growing problem...

The concept of endocarditis has evolved significantly over the years. While initially associated with patients with advanced co-morbidities, such as renal failure and chronic immunosuppression, endocarditis now spans many diverse disciplines. As such, the importance of advanced diagnostic imagining tools, a better understanding of...

As the diagnostic and therapeutic tools for the management of complex cardiac valve disease continue to evolve, the options for patients who previously had few choices continue to expand. Such advances have resulted in a renaissance in how Heart Teams approach problems and have...

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has evolved into an exciting and valuable tool to assist in the management of patients experiencing cardiogenic shock, severe acute respiratory failure, or often a combination of both. While outcomes remain less than ideal, they continue to improve with team...

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is an effective tool for managing patients with severe acute cardiogenic shock and/or respiratory failure. With emphasis on teamwork and adherence to guidelines, protocols, and objective tools to assist in patient selection, management, and weaning, outcomes have improved. Nevertheless, every aspect...

Endocarditis remains an elusive challenge for clinicians to master. As the population ages and their comorbidities increase, the risk of infecting cardiac structures - both native and, the ever-increasing use of, prosthetic support technology - also increases. In addition, the global epidemic of intravenous...

Since the publication of the first volume of Contemporary Developments and Perspectives in International Health Security, a lot has happened in this rapidly evolving area. Perhaps the most dominant global event of the past eighteen months is the COVID-19 pandemic. Within this general context,...

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed healthcare systems worldwide. Even as the world transitions out of the pandemic, numerous health threats remain, the biggest of which is climate change. This book examines both the virus and climate change in the context of international health security....

Graduate medical education (GME) is a continually evolving, highly dynamic area within the complex fabric of the modern health-care environment. Given the rapidly changing regulatory, financial, scientific and technical aspects of GME, many institutions and programs face daily challenges of "keeping up" with the...

Graduate medical education (GME) continues its decades-long evolution. Evidence-based approaches are increasingly transforming the way we educate, evaluate, and promote GME trainees. Key to this transformation is our ability to recognize that "medical education" constitutes a true lifelong continuum, beginning with pre-medical education, then...

As healthcare systems continue to evolve, it is clear that providing safe, high-quality care to patients is an extremely complex process. Ranging from multi-disciplinary teams to bedside care, virtually every aspect of the patient-care experience provides us with an opportunity for doing things better,...

In the realm of medical practice, the word "embolism" has many implications to many people, with most providers instinctively placing this word within an inherently negative context. Derived from the Greek word, ἐμβολισμός, this term most literally means "interposition." Yet, regardless of how benign...

Embolic complications of common, or sometimes uncommon, medical issues represent a significant management challenge. In addition, special populations might require unique approaches to prevention and primary disease management. Similarly, unusual embolic problems can manifest as both diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Despite evolving guidelines to...

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), despite a long and troubled history, is very rapidly evolving into a therapy that can be safely and effectively applied across the world in patients experiencing acute cardiac and/or pulmonary failure. As experiences grow, there is a better understanding of...

Medical education has undergone a substantial transformation from the traditional models of the basic classroom, laboratory, and bedside that existed up to the late 20th century. The focus of this text is to review the spectrum of topics that are essential to the training...

The field of cardiothoracic surgery continues to evolve at a rapidly expanding rate. New technologies are under constant development and as patients present with more advanced pathophysiology and complex comorbidities, management becomes more dependent on multi-disciplinary Teams. While there are a variety of innovative...

One of the most important advances in the delivery of healthcare has been recognition of the need for developing highly functioning multi-disciplinary teams. Such teams, when structured in a cohesive fashion, can function more effectively and efficiently than the sum of their parts. The...

This textbook represents a short update on original aspects of heart failure. It covers topics of heart failure management such as prevention, drug monitoring after heart transplant, and the critical care approach. There are also chapters on less common facets of this syndrome such...

Over the past two decades, the healthcare community increasingly recognized the importance and the impact of medical errors on patient safety and clinical outcomes. Medical and surgical errors continue to contribute to unnecessary and potentially preventable morbidity and/or mortality, affecting both ambulatory and hospital...

Medical errors contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality across our healthcare institutions. Due to the increasing complexity of the modern medical practice, a perfect storm of regulatory, market, social, and technical factors, and other competing priorities, created an environment that is primed for patient...