Everyone has heard of heart attacks and therefore is also familiar with terms such as coronary, cholesterol, electrocardiogram, defibrillator, and perhaps even stent. But what do these words really mean, and to what organ or function do they actually refer? Knowing about heart attacks means having a greater likelihood of avoiding them or at least surviving them with more awareness, perhaps even with more happiness. The author attempts to deprive this illness of its threatening aura by employing irony, irreverence and skills gathered over decades of experience in medicine and cardiology. The book addresses a range of relevant topics – including symptoms, first aid, risk factors, prevention drugs, family members’ anxiety, spouses’ bizarre questions, and follow-up exams – and comprises a sort of a cardiological tourist guide, which can be gainfully used to provide support for loved ones who have faced life-threatening danger.

Claudio Cuccia, a cardiologist, heads the Cardiovascular Department of the Poliambulanza Foundation in Brescia and presides over the ATBV (Arterial Thrombosis and Vascular Biology) National Study Group. For many years he led the Coronary Unit of the Civic Hospital in Brescia.