It is also pleasing to see an MCQ book entirely devoted to in-depth coverage of all aspects of cardiac anesthesia with traditional topics on drugs for cardiovascular diseases to congenital heart disease, embryology and rheumatic problems of valves pertinent to the Indian subpopulation. The book also has MCQs on rapidly developing areas like extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), critical care and echocardiography which placed good coverage in this book. Explanations to the MCQs also add value to the book.

Setting MCQs for an examination is not an easy task. The author has done a good job to make them topic-wise, relevant and realistic for examination purpose. It shall be very useful to the students especially for those preparing for various competitive examinations. I feel Dr Malhotra's long stint at AIIMS, has honed her expression as an author and skills as a teacher, helping to prepare candidates for examinations in the superspecialty field of cardiac anesthesia. With her academic and research experience, she has added the freshness of a young teacher to the perspective of the book which has also been benefited tremendously by a very experienced faculty of cardiac anesthetists in India as section editors like Dr Yatin Mehta, Dr Deepak Tempe, Dr K Muralidhar, Dr R Gopinath, Dr Rajeev Juneja and Dr Naman Shastri. These globally renowned teachers have enriched the flavor of this objective mode of assessment in examinations. The ‘MCQ Pattern’ added great value to the book. Medical students in India are traditionally depended upon Western books for knowledge and information. The situation is changing now with many Indian authors coming up in all subjects but this is the first book of its kind in cardiac anesthesia and all concerned are masters on the subject. I myself have been an active onlooker of the Society of Cardiac Anesthesia, Delhi and NCR Branch (in the last two years), under whose ‘aegis’ this book is being promoted. It is a young and vibrant academic society and it is inspiring to see senior and founder members of the association, come together and fill a void in MCQ assessment by writing the book.

I congratulate the authors and hope that the book gains success, it deserves. I strongly recommend this student-friendly book to all examinees and examiners of cardiac anesthesia.

The book is a compilation of echocardiography information and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) stills and videos from perioperative TEE and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) with explanations in Section 2 and about 250 questions in Section 3 on upcoming topics like critical care and ECMO.

Competing technology, miniaturization, real time 3D TTE and TEE, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) (Perioperative and postoperative), critical care and infection control are modern tools of cardiac anesthesia, which have enhanced the position of a cardiac anesthetist from a mere giver of drugs to a perioperative physician performer doing activities like performing local, GA and hemodynamic monitoring, pain relief and patient outcome monitor measures in ICU—making him all incharge of the patient. Also, with the growing field has come a growth in examinations. The book aims at the latter with videos, tables and figures in a simplistic manner for each of the 37 chapters. Explanation in the echocardiography section, makes Section 2—easy and good reading. I hope you enjoy the basic book on Review of Cardiac Anesthesia with 2,100 MCQs which is informative and easy-to-use.

I am sure, the book will fully meet the requirements of students preparing for all examinations in cardiac anesthesia like DM, FNB, FIACTA and perioperative TEE examinations.

I would like to acknowledge the residents of Cardiac Anesthesia Department, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India, and students of FIACTA and those seeking Fellowship examinations in TEE for providing the much-needed stimulus that animated my efforts.

My family whom, I take for granted every second and my senior and junior colleagues in Department of Cardiac Anesthesia, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India, deserve a heartfelt ‘Thank you’. The SCA–Delhi and NCR is an ever-growing Banyan tree founded by Professor Nita Saxena and Dr Yatin Mehta, under whose aegis, academics and research will also flourish. Seniors like them, are rare. My good luck.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Shri Jitendar P Vij (Group Chairman), Mr Ankit Vij (Managing Director), Mr Tarun Duneja (Director-Publishing) and staff of M/s Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) Ltd, New Delhi, India, for their guidance in making this book.