Atrial Fibrilation in Practice: Gregory YH Lip

These two volumes form part of the excellent In Practice series, published by the Royal Society of Medicine. Each examines an aspect of cardiology and presents it in such a way as to be accessible for the expert and the generalist alike. Professor Lip is well known for his work on atrial fibrillation, and the book manages to include a lot of information. Despite this, it is very readable. My only concern is that there is distinct trans-Atlantic flavour to the prescribing. No local GP will prescribe Class 1 antiarrhythmic drugs without specialist advice, and so a detailed discussion of them is out of place. In addition, dofetilide is not licensed in the UK. 1 feel the author underestimates the long-term effects of amiodarone on the lungs, and serial measurements of diffusion capacity would be a more sensitive way of detecting these than chest X-rays. Finally, I would have thought that a mention ofthe forthcoming new anti-thrombin drugs would be appropriate, as warfarin and all its problems could soon be a thing of the past!