Acute and chronic chest pain

Abstract

Several potential life-threatening diseases treated by cardiothoracic surgeons must be rapidly recognized, their pathophysiology understood, and treatment methods recognized. These major entities include coronary artery disease and dissection of and aneurysms of the thoracic aorta. Understanding Laplace's law of the heart is key to understanding both the pathophysiology and therapy for these diseases and the requirements for surgical intervention. © Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2005.