Each year more than half the deaths occurring in the United States are caused by diseases of the heart, lungs, blood, and blood vessels. In this eye-opening volume you'll meet fifteen people, each of whom has just been stricken. John is experiencing his first heart attack, and Ed has congestive heart failure—currently the most costly illness in the Medicare system. Suffering "heart block," Laura is one of the half-million people wearing a cardiac pacemaker. You'll meet Angela, and follow her course of treatment for severe hypertension, and get to know nine-month-old Josh, whose fits of crying and screaming are caused by sickle-cell anemia.

Dr. Glenn Langer introduces ten more patients, whose case histories, physical findings and laboratory test results you'll explore with him. In clear, everyday language, he explains the physical process at the core of each illness, starting at the level of the vital organs, then focusing in on the individual cells and the very molecules at work in their depths. Describing the how and why of treatment, Dr. Langer then reassembles the pieces, reforming the full picture of the disease as it appears in the whole patient. Among the hundreds of health-related books, none reveals the current art and science of medicine with such depth, clarity and perspective.

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