You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
This ability to make sense of the world in all of its three dimensions seems to be something that comes naturally to us. When you examine the flowers that are in the vase that is sitting on the table nearby, you should think about how clear your vision of three-dimensional space is. The intricate patterns of light and shadow that dance across the surface of the flower is shown in Figure 1.1. These patterns disclose the outline of the bloom as well as its translucent quality. Through the use of these patterns, the scene is visually differentiated from the background. When you look at the faces of the people in a framed group picture, you can not only recognize each individual, but you can also count them and even determine their emotions. Despite the fact that perceptual psychologists have spent decades trying to figure out how the visual system works on the inside (Figure1.3), and despite the fact that they have been successful in constructing optical illusions1 to throw light on certain principles, a definitive solution to this mystery has not yet been discovered.
Cardiologists must answer three important questions when evaluating and treating patients with a coronary artery stenosis. As a physiologist: "What is the effect of this stenosis on coronary blood flow and myocardial function?"; as a clinician: " Is this lesion responsible for the patient's symptoms?"; and finally as an interventionalist: "Will revascularization of this artery improve the patient?" Fundamentally, the answer to these questions can be given to a large extent by measuring coronary pressure. That is the rationale of writing this book. 1. 1 Historical overview. Andreas Gruentzig and most interventional cardiologists in the early days of PTCA, had the intuitive feeling that pressu...