From the Publisher
"a stunning survey of cardiology’s “Golden Age” and the “misfits” who made it so... It’s a book of marvels." - Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"Forrester brings history to life and explains complex procedures for lay readers in this excellent book for readers interested in medical history and those who want to understand modern medical procedures." - Library Journal, Starred Review
“A heartwarming account of risk-taking, iconoclastic doctors who achieved extraordinary cardiovascular breakthroughs and of the patients who trusted them.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Dr. James Forrester has been pioneering cardiac treatment for his entire storied career. Now, he brings his ideas and knowledge to all-and the impact will be profound. This book changes the landscape in heart health.” —David B. Agus, M.D. Professor of Medicine and Engineering, University of Southern California; New York Times-bestselling author of The End of Illness and A Short Guide to a Long Life
“Dr. James Forrester's The Heart Healers is a fast-moving tale told by someone who has lived through many of the developments he describes. Forrester is a gifted writer whose prose flows effortlessly and is, by turns, both inspired and irreverent He always keeps the narrative moving quickly, letting readers in on the fact that that success was not inevitable, describing false starts and blind alleys along the way. The Heart Healers is deepened by the fact of James Forrester's career, his contact with patients and colleagues and the personal stories of patients he has treated and woven into the narrative.” —Bruce Fye, M.D. Author of Caring for the Heart: Mayo Clinic and the Rise of Specialization
“James Forrester is one of the great medical storytellers of our era. In The Heart Healers, he applies his exceptional talent to illuminate — and tell the backstories of — the momentous milestones in cardiovascular medicine and surgery.” —Eric Topol, cardiologist, Author of The Patient Will See You Now and The Creative Destruction of Medicine
“This book is a great read!!! Even if one is familiar with some of the players who contributed to breakthroughs in cardiovascular medicine, to learn the back stories from an expert who lived through the events is a very enriching experience. Dr. Forrester makes a very compelling case that the misfits, mavericks, and rebels who persevered with their ideas truly impacted our society in ways that we cannot fully appreciate since we now take those things for granted. This is a story of disruptive innovation before that term was even invented!!” —Elliott Antman, MD, Professor of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and President, American Heart Association 2014-2015
M.D. Author of Caring for the Heart: Mayo Clin Bruce Fye
Dr. James Forrester's The Heart Healers is a fast-moving tale told by someone who has lived through many of the developments he describes. Forrester is a gifted writer whose prose flows effortlessly and is, by turns, both inspired and irreverent He always keeps the narrative moving quickly, letting readers in on the fact that that success was not inevitable, describing false starts and blind alleys along the way. The Heart Healers is deepened by the fact of James Forrester's career, his contact with patients and colleagues and the personal stories of patients he has treated and woven into the narrative.
Kirkus Reviews
2015-06-01
A scientific memoir/biography of the significant achievements of heart doctors through the years. Forrester (Medicine/UCLA) is the former chief of the division of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai and a recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the American College of Cardiology, so he is more than qualified to tell this story. For most of his subsequent career as director of one of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Centers for Research in Ischemic Heart Disease Center, he has been directly involved in a series of astonishing medical advances. In the early 1990s, he led a team that developed coronary angioscopy, a medical technique for visualizing the interiors of coronary arteries by inserting a flexible catheter directly into the artery. In the 1960s, at the start of his career, the treatment of patients experiencing a heart attack was primitive as compared to today. "More lives were being lost in a single year than in all of World War II," writes the author. Today, heart disease is surgically treatable and in many instances preventable with the help of diet, exercise, and cholesterol-reducing drugs. Open-heart surgery, the first of the advances he chronicles in the readable, accessible narrative, occurred in 1944. Dwight Harken, at the time a daring battlefield surgeon, performed the first successful open-heart surgery to remove shrapnel. The adaptation of the operation in peacetime involved improved diagnostic tools, including the development of a heart-lung machine. With the new tools and methods, the mortality rate for congenital heart surgery has decreased from 50 percent to 2 percent. Another major milestone, writes Forrester, was the introduction of "coronary artery bypass graft surgery" in 1967. It dramatically reduced angina (pain indicative of a potential heart attack), but as one of his students discovered, it was the suddenness of an occlusion, not gradual blockage, that caused a heart attack. Throughout the book, the author achieves a nice balance of memoir and scientific history. A heartwarming account of risk-taking, iconoclastic doctors who achieved extraordinary cardiovascular breakthroughs and of the patients who trusted them.
