ESC CardioMed

The ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine

The first edition of the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine was published in print in 2009 by Blackwell, with John Camm, Thomas F Lüscher and Patrick Serruys as editors. Following 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 the current modern world a more dynamic electronic version of a cardiology textbook with a sophisticated search system, many illustrations and movies should be developed.

ESC CardioMed

Thus 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, 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 embryology, 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 textbook was born, with four main editors, 63 section coordinators and more than 1000 chapter authors. As one can imagine, such a large project took more time than anticipated to develop, but the editors are now ready to announce proudly the publication of ESC CardioMed. Access to this huge electronic database is available as a membership benefit for all professional members and fellows of the ESC. For others wishing to access the publication, annual subscriptions are available for individuals and institutions alike through the publisher.

In spring 2018 about a third of the ESC CardioMed content 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 informative tables or videos of the most important clinical features. Indeed, the imaging sections in particular contain numerous videos of different cardiac conditions.

A novel aspect of the electronic ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine is first of all its name. It will be introduced under the name of ESC CardioMed to communicate its modern nature as a primarily comprehensive electronic database. Furthermore, and most importantly, it will be continuously 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 management 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.