Heart Stories is about patients and the great pioneers who revolutionized their care. It was my privilege to practice medicine and cardiology for 47 years, and to participate in the global effort to reduce death and suffering caused by heart and vascular disease. Robert G. Hauser MD When I graduated from medical school in 1968: • The most we could do for victims of a heart attack or stroke was place them in a hospital bed and pray. • Coronary artery disease was killing and disabling millions of people in the prime of their lives. • Every year 250,000 patients were dying outside the hospital of sudden cardiac death. • Coronary artery bypass surgery was in its infancy, and coronary angioplasty and stents did not exist. • Severe heart failure was a death sentence. All of this changed for the better---much better---during my career. These stories, based on real people, tell how my patients benefited from the creativity, passion, and tenacity of the great surgical and medical pioneers whose discoveries saved them and transformed their lives and the lives of their families. In this book, you will learn how heart attack mortality was reduced six-fold, why coronary artery disease and sudden cardiac death are preventable, how cardiac surgery saved thousands of children and adults suffering from congenital and valvular heart disease, and why severe heart failure is now a treatable condition.