Inflammatory Diseases of Blood Vessels PDF

Preface

Inflammatory Diseases of Blood Vessels is a comprehensive overview of the science and clinical consequences of vascular inflammation in health and disease. Chapters cover basic topics that would be of interest to scientists and clinicians from a broad range of disciplines.

Vascular inflammation has become of interest in atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction, as well as many different forms of primary and secondary idiopathic systemic vasculitis. Diagnostic methods and tools, as well as new developments in treatment, challenge practicing clinicians in rheumatology, nephrology, pulmonology, clinical immunology, cardiology, vascular medicine, cardiovascular surgery, and pathology.

We have tried to serve all of these constituencies by reviewing accepted principles in the science of vascular diseases and clinical medicine, as well as including new information about the most promising areas of discovery that we hope will change the understanding and practice of medicine in the future.

To achieve our goals, we have selected contributors who are leading worldwide authorities in their fields. We have admired their work over the years and are very grateful for their help in making this volume comprehensive. We believe that this book will be a valuable and frequently used reference.

The authors are indebted to our patients and colleagues who have helped to educate and nurture our appreciation of the mechanisms and clinical consequences of vascular inflammation.

Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has played a major role in delineating mechanisms whereby immunosuppressive agents modulate immune responses and become effective therapies for formerly fatal inflammatory vascular diseases. It was in his program that one of us CGSH) was first exposed to an extraordinary spectrum of systemic vasculitides and provided with unique opportunities to study patients with a team of talented scientists.

We are grateful to our students and fellows, who have trusted in our mentorship and have joined us in the pursuit of knowledge. Their work in the laboratory, where they explored with endless enthusiasm the immunopathology of vascular inflammation, has critically shaped our concepts and ideas. Their help will be needed in bringing molecular biology, genomics, and proteonomics to our patients.