February is American Heart Month, making this a good time to come to grips with the facts about heart disease and to join the fight against it.

More than 70 million Americans suffer from some form of heart disease. For each of them, obtaining accurate information about the disease and the options for dealing with it can be empowering and lifesaving. Heart Care for Life: Developing the Program that Works Best for You, a new book published by Yale University Press, offers up-to-date facts about the best treatments available and an innovative approach that shows how treatment programs can be tailored to meet the unique needs of each patient. It is co-written by Dr. Barry L. Zaret, chief of cardiology at Yale from 1978 to 2004, who has been a pioneer in developing non-invasive diagnosis for cardiovascular disease, with an emphasis on nuclear cardiology.

In a recent review in the Baltimore Sun, the book is hailed as “well-organized and easy to read” and “a good primer” for those with no knowledge of cardiology. The authors “cover nearly every heart ailment imaginable. And they include a final section on new therapies, including the use of growth factors to stimulate new blood vessel development.”

“[I]f you need good, serious information about your heart,” the review concludes, “Heart Care for Life is a good option. You can read it cover-to-cover or use it as a reference to help guide medical decisions.”