Includes bibliographical references and index.

The nineteenth-century origins of the Mayo practice -- The Mayo's invention of multispecialty group practice -- The development of an academic medical center in Rochester -- Patient care and clinical research in the 1920s -- The electrocardiograph and the birth of cardiology -- Challenges and changes during the depression -- President Roosevelt's secret hypertensive heart disease -- The reinvention of the American Heart Association, and the invention of cardiac catheterization -- Surgeons begin trying to treat heart disease -- Pioneering open-heart surgery at the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic -- The expansion of open-heart surgery and cardiac catheterization -- Beyond mid-century : two decades of growth and change -- Creating coronary care units and empowering nurses -- Coronary angiography : the Cleveland Clinic leads the way -- Coronary artery bypass surgery stimulates the growth of angiography -- Transforming cardiac catheters into treatment tools -- Analyzing and managing abnormal heart rhythms -- Seeing the heart : echocardiography and other imaging technologies -- Treating heart failure and preventing cardiovascular disease -- Challenges and opportunities around the new millennium.