Cardiovascular Physiology Concepts

by Richard E Klabunde

Compact and conceptually oriented, this monograph examines the treatment of normal heart and circulatory function in language that is easily understood by first-year medical and allied health students. While emphasizing overall cardiovascular function, disease states are also correlated to reinforce and illustrate basic physiological concepts and to provide a clinical context for the reader.

Genres: Reference, Textbooks

235 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[Derek Lillestolen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rivaled only by the works of J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter) or Mary Pope Osborne (Magic Treehouse Series), Dr. Klabunde uses his writing prowess to paint a literary image of the heart that is so vivid and clear one can almost taste the iron in the blood as if he had recently cut his lip. Follow carefully developed characters, including the Right Atrium, Left Ventricle and a quartet of Pulmonary Veins as they work to deliver blood and love to the rest of the body. This book is an emotional roller coaster. I laughed aloud when I read about that wacky SA node, telling everyone what to do. Tears obscured my vision as I pleaded, to no avail, with myocytes to come back to life after an infarction (sorry if I spoiled that part). I was sad when I turned the last page, and I eagerly await the sequel (CV Physiology Concepts II: Locked and Preloaded) as well as the movie adaptation directed by Quentin Tarantino (there will be a lot of blood). Until then, I will be rereading it nightly.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm reviewing this as a layperson, I suspect the main audience is medical students. I read this book because I discovered that my wife and I were going to have a baby with Tetralogy of Fallot. I wanted to educate myself about the heart so I could understand our cardiologist and ask him intelligent questions. I also wanted to be prepared to keep my son healthy after he was born.

That said, I was able to comprehend 25% of this book at best. The core concepts were clear to me, I took away an appreciation for how the cardiovascular system is self regulating and has mechanisms to monitor and adjust pressure, resistance, and chemicals as needed. The book gave me a great appreciation for how intricate and well tuned the body is. In school we learn very basic information about how the heart circulates blood, perhaps we learn about how it works with the lungs to obtain oxygen for the body. If you read this book you will gain a whole new appreciate for what the heart does for the body. Again, I understood maybe 25% of the book but that didn't prevent me from developing a sense of wonder at just how precisely our bodies are constructed.

This book also made me feel less stressed about my son's heart defect. Learning about how intricate this system is, all the way down to the cellular level and the exchange of elements like Calcium, Sodium, and Potassium, helped me realize that it's a wonder most people are born with normal hearts to begin with. Tetralogy of Fallot in this time period isn't so bad, my family will be able to handle it.

To summarize, if you are a layperson reading this book you will feel lost most of the time. And that's okay. Skip the charts, skip the end of chapter exercises, and try to extract as much meaning as you can. I'm glad I took the time to read this, I'm confident I can manage my son's heart defect well now that I have this knowledge.

[Loni]

dnf'ing this one guilt free, I was reading it to try and bond with a friend but 25 pages in it is clear to me that one 1. said friend is brilliant and 2. I do not have any of the necessary prerequisite knowledge that is required to learn anything from this book.

[Clara Winding · Rating 5 out of 5]

A easy go-to, which with good guidance introduces the reader to the physiology of the heart with nice examples, good descriptive figures and repetitions

[David Rasmussen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, worth the read if you have to. Better, by far, than most material out there, even though it isn't in the shortest form possible.

Exam is today, I trust in Klabunde to carry me through.

[stargazer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely written, good explanations. The practice problems can be mildly irritating in how they try to trick the reader, but that might just be me.