Written by faculty members of the international symposium 'Valves in the Heart of the Big Apple: Evaluation and Management of Valvular Heart Diseases', this book is intended to complement and supplement the first volume, published in 2002. While the first volume reviews current information on valvular disease pathophysiology, epidemiology and evaluation as well as management strategies for affected patients, the current volume covers areas not discussed in the first and updates information on critical prognostication and management issues. Topics discussed include the selection of patients for surgery, current surgical approaches, natural history and management of selected complex congenital abnormalities involving heart valves, cellular and molecular pathophysiology of myocardial dysfunction. Consideration is also given to prognostication strategies and results as well as technical approaches to measuring disease charac-ter­istics. Providing a comprehensive overview of contemporary thinking about valvular heart diseases, this book will be of great value not only to cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, but also to medical students, medical and surgical residents, cardiology and cardiac surgery fellows and general internists.