The Angina Monologues: surgery for broken hearts

by Samer Nashef

Overview

A pioneering cardiac surgeon expertly sews up the heart of surgery.

The Angina Monologues speeds from the transporting of a donor’s heart up the highway’s shoulder, to cautionary stories of excessive intervention gone awry in US hospitals, to a traumatic trip to bring advanced cardiac surgery to the Palestinian West Bank. Nashef tells heartstopping stories of transplants, coronary artery bypasses, aorta repair, and cardiac arrest. He also delivers humane advice about medical realities rarely observed: the futility of obsessing over diet, the necessity of calculating risks, the role of decision making, and the resilience of doctor and patient alike.

Nashef is a magnificently warm and likeable doctor and writer; and he has the best imaginable bedside manner.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781947534896
Publisher:	Scribe Publications Pty Ltd
Publication date:	02/04/2020
Edition description:	US edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Samer Nashef is a cardiac surgeon at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge. He is a dedicated teacher and communicator and is recognized as a world-leading expert on risk and quality in surgical care. He is the author of over 200 widely-cited articles and has spoken in over 30 countries, including across the United States. He is the author of The Naked Surgeon and a compiler of cryptic crosswords for The Guardian and the Financial Times.

Table of Contents

Foreword 1

1 Conflict of interest 5

2 Heart surgery for beginners 15

3 Getting on with it 27

4 Mild paranoia 35

5 CABG and how to avoid it 47

6 An easy cabbage 67

7 World-class surgery on a shoestring 91

8 The story of A and H 105

9 When the pump is broken 113

10 Sabotage 131

11 Irony 155

12 McKlusky's 167

13 Will you do the operation, Doctor? 185

14 Brazilian 191

15 Keyhole surgery and other novelties 205

16 This time it's personal 219

17 The many forms of Lazarus 231

18 An accidental fraud 243

Appendix: My crossword puzzle for Roger Whiting 271

Acknowledgements 275

Editorial Reviews

Enthralling and outspoken.”
—The Times

“It’s funny, sad, uplifting and hopeful. Samer Nashef’s writing style is easy for the lay person to understand (his description of how to do a heart transplant is unforgettable) but is also interesting to those who have some knowledge of cardiology…Whether you work in medicine or are just interested in how heart problems can be corrected by surgery, this is a great read. I read this book in a couple of days because the stories were so varied and enthralling.”
—Sam Still Reading

“[Nashef's] honest, unvarnished writing about his life and death work has given his readers new insights into the reality of life inside the operating theater.”
—BBC World News

Praise for The Naked Surgeon:

“A Malcolm Gladwell-esque look at what happens in operating theaters…Nashef’s humanity and compassion shine through.”
—The Times

“One can’t help but think of Henry Marsh when reading Samer Nashef…[He] writes clearly, with plentiful moments of humour.”
—The Independent

“[The Naked Surgeon] takes a scalpel to the medical profession and asks if patients get the standard of care they have the right to expect from their surgeons…A valuable resource.”
—Irish Independent

Praise for Samer Nashef:

“The question one is asked most frequently as a newspaper feature writer, alongside “how do you get your ideas?” and “do you actually get paid for writing that crap?”, is “who’s the most interesting person you’ve interviewed?” In my case the answer changes and, while the experiences of meeting Bill Clinton and Bros are obviously right up there, I usually settle on the heart surgeon Samer Nashef. He left a deep impression not only because I watched him conduct emergency surgery and save a man’s life, and because as co-creator of the Euroscore system, a safety and monitoring tool that predicts the outcomes of heart surgery, he has arguably saved thousands of other lives too, and because he also compiles cryptic crosswords for The Guardian and the Financial Times under a pseudonym in his spare time, but because he taught me about how people have a tendency to be overly in awe of authority figures like him.”
—Sathnam Sanghera, The Times

From the Publisher

Praise for The Naked Surgeon :

“A Malcolm Gladwell-esque look at what happens in operating theatres…Nashef’s humanity and compassion shine through.”

The Times

Praise for The Naked Surgeon :

“One can’t help but think of Henry Marsh when reading Samer Nashef…[He] writes clearly, with plentiful moments of humour.”

The Independent

Praise for The Naked Surgeon :

“[ The Naked Surgeon ] takes a scalpel to the medical profession and asks if patients get the standard of care they have the right to expect from their surgeons…A valuable resource.”

Irish Independent

Praise for Samer Nashef:

“The question one is asked most frequently as a newspaper feature writer, alongside “how do you get your ideas?” and “do you actually get paid for writing that crap?”, is “who’s the most interesting person you’ve interviewed?” In my case the answer changes and, while the experiences of meeting Bill Clinton and Bros are obviously right up there, I usually settle on the heart surgeon Samer Nashef. He left a deep impression not only because I watched him conduct emergency surgery and save a man’s life, and because as co-creator of the Euroscore system, a safety and monitoring tool that predicts the outcomes of heart surgery, he has arguably saved thousands of other lives too, and because he also compiles cryptic crosswords for The Guardian and the Financial Times under a pseudonym in his spare time, but because he taught me about how people have a tendency to be overly in awe of authority figures like him.”

The Times - Sathnam Sanghera