Interventional cardiology is a creative, innovative, and rapidly advancing frontier of cardiology. There has been mind-boggling proliferation of tech nology in this field, the use of which requires extraordinary skills and know how. In order to keep pace with the innovative genius of interventional cardiologists, it is indeed desirable to have specialty issues updating us on technology-orientated therapeutic procedures. Contemporary interventional cardiology care is a highly specialized art, dependent on critical decision making, selection of the most appropriate inter ventional procedure, and the operator possessing extraordinary skills and compassion. This first volume of the new series, Supported Complex and High Risk Cor onary Angioplasty, attests to the preceding statement. Dr. Fayaz Shawl has mastered the procedure and has been very thoughtful and innovative in the clinical application of the percutaneous cardiopulmonary bypass support tech nique. This book provides to an interventionist the basic principles of car diopulmonary bypass, identification of the high risk coronary angioplasty patient, and other alternate support devices for myocardial protection. Dr. Shawl and his team of talented contributors are to be complimented for providing us with this impressive volume on high technology. There will be ongoing specialty issues in this series highlighting the devel opments, complications, and advances in interventional cardiology.
