The Breathless Heart

1 Historical background and glossary of the apnea phenomenon.- 2 Mechanics and chemistry of respiration in health.- 3 Hypopneas and apneas as physiological and pathological phenomena throughout life.- 4 Pathophysiology of central apneas in heart failure.- 5 The importance of visceral feedbacks: focus on chemoreceptors.- 6 The apneas before and after heart failure.- 7 Not only sleep apnea: the "awake" apneas of the failing heart.- 8 Periodic breathing during effort and central apneas in heart failure: siblings, cousins or what else?.- 9 To breath or not to breath--that is the question.- 10 Diagnostic tools: the easier, the better.- 11 Diagnostic tools: messages from implanted devices.- 12 Targeting and treating apneas.- 13 Final remarks.

Michele Emdin got his degree in 1983 and specialized in Cardiovascular Diseases at the Universities of Pisa and Milano, Italy. He started working at the CNR Foundation - Gabriele Monasterio in Pisa, Italy, right in 1983, within the Sant'Anna Hospital in Pisa. He worked as visiting assistant professor in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Boston, USA, and London, UK. Beside his important teaching activity started back in 1999, the research avenues he is pursuing are: serum GGT as cardiovascular risk factor, heart failure, ischemic cardiomyopathy, nervous and endocrine control of cardiovascular system. He is author of more than 190 papers and published a book with Springer already on natriuretic peptides.

Alberto Giannoni works as a cardiologist and researcher at the Fondazione Toscana Gabriele Monasterio in Pisa, Italy. He attended his PhD on cardiorespiratory interactions at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy and at the Imperial College, London, UK. His main research interest focus on Cheyne-Stokes respiration and feed-back systems, chemoreflex, baroreflex and ergoreflex, in heart failure.


Claudio Passino is Assistant Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa. He specialized in cardiology and sports medicine. His main research interests focus on neuroendocrine regulation of the cardiovascular system, high altitude cardiac adaptation, evaluation of new risk factors in coronary artery disease.

"This is a thorough evaluation of apnea in heart failure, including physiology, pathology, clinical assessment, and treatment of various apneas in patients with cardiomyopathy. ... This book is best suited for general cardiologists, advanced heart failure physicians, pulmonologists or sleep medicine physicians. However, it would be a great resource for any physicians, trainees, or medical students who are interested in cardiology to further refine their understanding of apneas in heart failure." (George Irvin McLeod, Doody's Book Reviews, April, 2017)