ESC CardioMedThe new ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine, ESC CardioMed, is a continuously updating electronic database (Fig. 1).

Education – the mission of the ESCThe education of trainees, postgraduate and established cardiologists alike, and other health care professionals has always been a critical component of the mission of the Eu-ropean Society of Cardiology. Besides the most successful congresses of the main Society as well as its Associations, the growing ESC Journal Family and also the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine have been important products of this successful strategy.

The ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular MedicineThe first edition of the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Med-icine was published in print in 2009 by Blackwell, with John Camm, Thomas F. Lüscher and Patrick Serruys as editors. Fol-lowing the success of the first edition, the second edition appeared in 2011, this time published by Oxford University Press. Although available from the outset in a basic digital format, after the launch of the second edition the editors of the textbook felt that in today’s modern world a more dynamic electronic version of a cardiology textbook with a sophisticated search system, many illustrations and movies should be developed.

ESC CardioMedThus, in 2016 the ESC Board of the European Society of Cardiology decided to launch a third edition of the textbook, this time in a completely different format. The editors, now also including Gerald Maurer (Fig. 2a), decided to enlarge the scope of the textbook to include many of the so far uncovered topics within the growing field of cardiovascular medicine, such as em-bryology, catheter-based structural interventions, psychological factors, ethnicity, interpretation of trials and personalised medicine, to name but a few.

As such, the concept of a huge primarily electronic text-book was born with four main editors, 63 section coordina-tors and more than 1000-chapter authors. As one can imag-ine, such a large project took more time than anticipated to develop, but the editors are now ready to proudly announce the publication of ESC CardioMed. Access to this huge elec-tronic data base is available as a membership benefit for all Professional Members and Fellows of the European Society of Cardiology (Fig. 2b). For others wishing to access the pub-lication, annual subscriptions are available for individuals and institutions alike through the publisher.

In spring 2018 about a third of the ESC CardioMed con-tent became available online and now on the occasion of the Annual Congress of the European Society of Cardiology in Munich this August 2018, the majority of the chapters with a very few exceptions will be accessible online. The database is endowed with a sophisticated search system allowing rapid identification of the relevant parts of the book. Each of the chapters is illustrated, most with full colour figures and

Figure 1. ESC CardioMed screenshot

Figure 2. (a) ESC CardioMed editors (from left to right): Thomas F. Lüscher, John A. Camm, Gerald Maurer, Patrick W. Serruys

informative tables or videos of the most important clinical features. Indeed, particularly the imaging sections contain numerous videos of different cardiac conditions.

A novel aspect of the electronic ESC Textbook of Car-diovascular Medicine is first of all its name. It will be intro-duced under the name of ESC CardioMed to communicate its modern nature as a primarily comprehensive electronic database. Furthermore, and most importantly, it will be con-tinuously updated three times a year, after each of the large cardiology congresses such as the Annual Congress of the European Society of Cardiology, the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association and the Annual Congress of the American College of Cardiology. Updates will primarily involve new trials affecting clinical practice or new imaging or interventional techniques highly relevant for the manage-

ment of patients, as well as new insights into causes and mechanisms of cardiovascular disease of clinical interest. This will avoid the problem that most textbooks encounter, i.e. that they are outdated by the time they appear.

The ContentThe content of the textbook is divided into 63 sections that cover major aspects of cardiovascular disease (Table 1).

Interaction with ESC GuidelinesA further major new aspect of ESC CardioMed is its alignment with the ESC Guidelines. Many leaders in the field as well as the users of the ESC Guidelines have felt for some time that the documents were too long and difficult to read and it was dif-ficult to find the main message. Therefore, the editors of ESC CardioMed came together with the ESC Guidelines Com-mittee and its chairman Stephan Windecker and decided to gradually bring the two products together. To that end it is en-visaged that the ESC CardioMed will provide the background knowledge such as mechanisms of disease, epidemiology and describe the trials in more detail, while the ESC Guide-lines will focus primarily on the recommendations. Examples of this synergy are the direct links between ESC CardioMed and the most recent ESC Guidelines on Valvular Heart Dis-ease and on Peripheral Arterial Disease published in the European Heart Journal. This concept will make the ESC Guidelines more readable and digestible and still provide the full information through the links with ESC CardioMed. This process will take some time to be completed but is currently ongoing as new ESC Guidelines are being developed.

A print version will publish as The ESC Textbook of Car-diovascular Medicine 3e early in 2019 (Fig. 3).

The editors and the leaders of the European Society of Cardiology involved in this project do hope that ESC Car-dioMed will be frequently used by our cardiologists and other care professionals around the world and will turn out to be essential in their daily practice.

A. TofieldAT: I have no conflict of interest

Figure 3. (b) Structure of ESC CardioMed – the new electronic, con-tinuously upgraded ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine edited by the European Society of Cardiology with Oxford University Press

Figure 4. Front cover of the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medi-cine, Oxford University Press, 2019

Part

1: I

ntro

duct

ion

to th

e ca

rdio

vasc

ular

sys

tem

Sect

ion

34 T

umou

rs o

f the

hea

rtG

aeta

no T

hien

e

Sect

ion

1 Ca

rdio

vasc

ular

his

tory

and

phy

sica

l exa

min

atio

nN

icho

las

Boo

nSe

ctio

n 35

Val

vula

r hea

rt d

isea

seH

elm

ut B

aum

gart

ner

Sect

ion

2 D

evel

opm

enta

l bio

logy

of t

he h

eart

Mig

uel T

orre

sSe

ctio

n 36

Infe

ctiv

e en

doca

rditi

sG

ilber

t Hab

ib

Sect

ion

3 Fu

nctio

nal a

nato

my

of th

e he

art

Yen

Ho

Sect

ion

37 H

eart

Fai

lure

John

McM

urra

y

Sect

ion

4 Ca

rdio

vasc

ular

phy

siol

ogy

Gui

do G

rass

iSe

ctio

n 38

Bra

dyca

rdia

Giu

sepp

e B

oria

ni

Sect

ion

5 Ca

rdio

vasc

ular

pha

rmac

olog

yFa

iez

Zann

adSe

ctio

n 39

Syn

cope

Mic

hele

Bri

gnol

e

Sect

ion

6 A

ntic

oagu

latio

nRa

ffael

e D

e Ca

teri

naSe

ctio

n 40

Sup

rave

ntri

cula

r tac

hyca

rdia

sCa

rina

Blo

mst

röm

-Lun

dqvi

st

Sect

ion

7 Ep

idem

iolo

gy a

nd g

loba

l bur

den

Sum

eet C

hugh

Sect

ion

41 A

tria

l fibr

illat

ion

A. J

ohn

Cam

m

Part

2: I

nves

tigat

ions

Sect

ion

42 V

entr

icul

ar ta

chyc

ardi

aB

rian

Ols

hans

ky

Sect

ion

8 El

ectr

ocar

diog

ram

Ant

onio

Bay

és d

e Lu

naSe

ctio

n 43

Sud

den

Card

iac

Dea

thG

erha

rd H

indr

icks

Sect

ion

9 Ch

est r

adio

grap

hyCh

rist

ian

Her

old

Part

4: V

ascu

lar d

isea

se

Sect

ion

10 C

ardi

ac u

ltras

ound

Fran

k Fl

achs

kam

pfSe

ctio

n 44

Sys

tem

ic h

yper

tens

ion

Bry

an W

illia

ms

Sect

ion

11 C

ardi

ovas

cula

r mag

netic

reso

nanc

eD

udle

y Pe

nnel

lSe

ctio

n 45

Pul

mon

ary

Hyp

erte

nsio

nM

arc

Hum

bert

Sect

ion

12 C

ardi

ovas

cula

r com

pute

d to

mog

raph

ySt

epha

n A

chen

bach

Sect

ion

46 D

isea

ses

of th

e ao

rta

Raim

und

Erbe

l

Sect

ion

13 N

ucle

ar c

ardi

olog

y an

d po

sitr

on e

mis

sion

tom

ogra

phy

Phili

pp K

aufm

ann

Sect

ion

47 T

raum

a to

the

card

iova

scul

ar s

yste

mCh

rist

oph

Nie

nabe

r

Sect

ion

14 In

vasi

ve im

agin

g - h

aem

odyn

amic

sCa

rlo

Di M

ario

Sect

ion

48 N

on-c

ardi

ac s

urge

rySt

een

Kris

tens

en

Sect

ion

15 S

elec

tion

of im

agin

g te

chni

ques

Jero

en B

axSe

ctio

n 49

Per

iphe

ral a

rter

ial d

isea

ses

Vict

or A

boya

ns

Part

3: H

eart

dis

ease

sSe

ctio

n 50

Ven

ous

thro

mbo

embo

lism

Stav

ros

Kons

tant

inid

es

Sect

ion

16 G

enet

ics

of C

V di

seas

esH

erib

ert S

chun

kert

Sect

ion

51 V

enou

s di

seas

eSe

bast

ian

Sche

llong

Sect

ion

17 C

onge

nita

l hea

rt d

isea

se (G

UCH

)Jo

hn D

eanfi

eld

Part

5: S

peci

fic p

opul

atio

ns –

gen

der a

nd ra

ce

Sect

ion

18 P

reve

ntio

n in

car

diov

ascu

lar d

isea

se a

nd re

habi

litat

ion

Mas

sim

o Pi

epol

iSe

ctio

n 52

Car

diov

ascu

lar d

isea

se in

wom

enC.

Noe

l Bai

rey

Mer

z

Sect

ion

19 D

iabe

tes

mel

litus

met

abol

ics

synd

rom

eLa

rs R

ydén

Sect

ion

53 P

regn

ancy

and

hea

rt d

isea

seVe

ra R

egitz

-Zag

rose

k

Sect

ion

20 H

eart

and

the

brai

nH

ans-

Chri

stop

h D

iene

rSe

ctio

n 54

Eth

nici

tyG

rego

ry L

ip

Sect

ion

21 C

ardi

ovas

cula

r pro

blem

s in

chr

onic

kid

ney

dise

ase

Chri

stop

h W

anne

rPa

rt 6

: Oth

er a

spec

ts

Sect

ion

22 E

rect

ile d

ysfu

nctio

nCh

aral

ambo

s Vl

acho

poul

osSe

ctio

n 55

Spo

rts

and

hear

t dis

ease

Ant

onio

Pel

licci

a

Sect

ion

23 L

ung

Dis

ease

Mar

tin C

owie

Sect

ion

56 E

lder

lyFr

anz

H. M

esse

rli a

nd T

omas

z G

rodz

icki

Sect

ion

24 G

astr

oint

estin

al d

isea

seG

erha

rd R

ogle

rSe

ctio

n 57

Pre

cisi

on M

edic

ine

Paul

us K

irch

hof

Sect

ion

25 R

heum

atoi

d ar

thri

tis a

nd th

e he

art

Thom

as L

üsch

erSe

ctio

n 58

Dec

isio

n-m

akin

g an

d th

e H

eart

Tea

mPa

tric

k Se

rruy

s

Sect

ion

26 R

heum

atic

hea

rt d

isea

seFe

rand

e Pe

ters

Sect

ion

59 P

sych

olog

ical

fact

ors

and

hear

t dis

ease

Susa

nne

Pede

rsen

Sect

ion

27 C

ardi

o-on

colo

gyJo

hn G

roar

keSe

ctio

n 60

Inte

rpre

tatio

n of

clin

ical

tria

lsJo

hn C

lela

nd

Sect

ion

28 H

IVN

ombu

lelo

Mag

ula

Sect

ion

61 E

nvir

onm

ent

Thom

as M

uenz

el

Sect

ion

29 A

cute

cor

onar

y sy

ndro

mes

Stef

an J

ames

Sect

ion

62 O

ccup

atio

nal a

nd re

gula

tory

asp

ects

Dem

osth

enes

Kat

rits

is

Sect

ion

30 T

akot

subo

syn

drom

eCh

rist

ian

Tem

plin

Sect

ion

63 E

cono

mic

s an

d co

st-e

ffect

iven

ess

Lore

nzo

Man

tova

ni

Sect

ion

31 C

hron

ic is

chae

mic

hea

rt d

isea

seW

illia

m W

ijns

Part

7: A

ppen

dice

s

Sect

ion

32 M

yoca

rdia

l dis

ease

Perr

y El

liott

App

endi

x 1

Card

iova

scul

ar d

isea

se ri

sk e

stim

atio

nIa

n G

raha

m

Sect

ion

33 P

eric

ardi

al d

isea

seYe

huda

Adl

erA

ppen

dix

2 Pa

tient

repo

rted

out

com

e m

easu

res

Ada

m T

imm

is

Tabl

e 1.

Car

dioM

ed ta

ble

of c

onte

nts