I am indebted to researchers worldwide whose works were used to produce this fund of knowledge for future researchers in the field of cardiovascular medicine. I feel certain that the names of many researchers have been omitted because of my oversight and because references provide only three names, et al.
Hilary Rowe, my Publisher at Elsevier, had the foresight to accept my proposal to provide researchers in the technologic and medical field with an Encyclopedia of Heart Diseases. I must express my thanks to her and her team that includes:
• Erin LaBonte-McKay who assisted me with acquiring permissions.
• Paul Gottehrer who faced the task of production of the book without disappointing me. The printing style is what I requested. A text that is non-compressed, user-friendly, and with well-positioned illustrations. Few publishers are able to follow the whims of authors.
There is little doubt, however, that without the love and commitment of my wife Brigid, this daunting task of the production of a single-authored, 91-chapter book would not have been possible.