Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Editor, Associate Editors, Artistic Consultant, and Contributors
- Preface
- PART I CONTEXT
- PART II ENDOTHELIAL CELL AS INPUT-OUTPUT DEVICE
- PART III VASCULAR BED/ORGAN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN HEALTH AND DISEASE
- PART IV DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT
- 172 Introductory Essay: Diagnosis and Treatment
- 173 Circulating Markers of Endothelial Function
- 174 Blood Endothelial Cells
- 175 Endothelial Microparticles: Biology, Function, Assay and Clinical Application
- 176 Molecular Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- 177 Real-Time Imaging of the Endothelium
- 178 Diagnosing Endothelial Cell Dysfunction
- 179 Statins
- 180 Steroid Hormones
- 181 Organic Nitrates: Exogenous Nitric Oxide Administration and Its Influence on the Vascular Endothelium
- 182 Therapeutic Approaches to Altering Hemodynamic Forces
- 183 Stent- and Nonstent-Based Cell Therapy for Vascular Disease
- 184 Building Blood Vessels
- 185 Gene Transfer and Expression in the Vascular Endothelium
- 186 Drug Targeting to Endothelium
- PART V CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
- Index
- Plate section
172 - Introductory Essay: Diagnosis and Treatment
from PART IV - DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Editor, Associate Editors, Artistic Consultant, and Contributors
- Preface
- PART I CONTEXT
- PART II ENDOTHELIAL CELL AS INPUT-OUTPUT DEVICE
- PART III VASCULAR BED/ORGAN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN HEALTH AND DISEASE
- PART IV DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT
- 172 Introductory Essay: Diagnosis and Treatment
- 173 Circulating Markers of Endothelial Function
- 174 Blood Endothelial Cells
- 175 Endothelial Microparticles: Biology, Function, Assay and Clinical Application
- 176 Molecular Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- 177 Real-Time Imaging of the Endothelium
- 178 Diagnosing Endothelial Cell Dysfunction
- 179 Statins
- 180 Steroid Hormones
- 181 Organic Nitrates: Exogenous Nitric Oxide Administration and Its Influence on the Vascular Endothelium
- 182 Therapeutic Approaches to Altering Hemodynamic Forces
- 183 Stent- and Nonstent-Based Cell Therapy for Vascular Disease
- 184 Building Blood Vessels
- 185 Gene Transfer and Expression in the Vascular Endothelium
- 186 Drug Targeting to Endothelium
- PART V CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
In previous sections of this textbook, chapters have been assembled to convey the molecular and cellular basis of organ pathophysiology, as viewed through the lens of vascular biology in general and the endothelium in specific. How the endothelium interacts with adjacent vascular smooth muscle cells, circulating blood cells, and the underlying parenchyma of each organ have been exampled, and specific chapters have focused on particular organs and their disease states. These sections provided the knowledge upon which the ensuing chapters are built, but which focus now on diagnosis and treatment.
The endothelium has remarkable, yet largely untapped diagnostic potential. From a bedside physician's viewpoint, the endothelium is difficult to assay. It is hidden from view and cannot be inspected, palpated, percussed, or auscultated. Moreover, the endothelium is poorly circumscribed and therefore not readily amenable to conventional radiological studies. However, the endothelium has several properties that make it an ideal target for therapy. First, it is widely distributed and therefore provides a window into every organ in the body. Second, it is rapidly and preferentially exposed to systemically delivered agents. Third, as an input–output device, the endothelium is highly malleable and responsive to exogenously administered compounds.
In Part IV, the authors provide their perspective on how current knowledge may affect real or potential advances in the diagnosis and treatment of endothelial-based diseases. Advances in diagnosis include the measurement of circulating soluble mediators (Chapter 173), and circulating blood endothelial cells (Chapter 174); or circulating microparticles (Chapter 175). Other diagnostic assays include molecular imaging (Chapter 176), real-time imaging (Chapter 177), and flow studies (Chapter 178).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Endothelial Biomedicine , pp. 1599 - 1601Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007