BOOK REVIEWS George Johnson, Jr., M.D.,
Book Review Section Editor
Vascular surgery, issues iu current practice Roger M. Greenhalgh, Crawford W. Jamieson, and Andrew N. Nicolaides, eds. Orlando, 1986, Grune & Stratton, Inc., 475 pages, $99.50. This multiauthored book was published to coincide with the Second International Symposium held in London in September 1986. It covers a broad range of specific topics important to vascular surgeons. The text is not a syllabus of the papers presented at the symposium but was prewritten by experts in each area selected. The strength of the text lies in its format of providing background and current knowledge on specific topics addressed as questions. Each chapter is self-contained and generally well referenced and indexed, thereby providing -the reader with quick up-to-date information on the questions being asked. The chapters serve as an excellent supplement to existing vascular surgical texts. Both residents -and practicing surgeons will enjoy the various authors’ approach to the subject material. As with all multiauthored texts the style and presentation vary considerably. The book has five general sections. The first, risk factors and medical treatment, I found most informative and enjoyable. This section contains excellent reviews of factual information on atherosclerotic disease, risk, and management that is helpful both in decision-making and in advising and educating patients. The second section, investigation, integrates the use of noninvasive testing and other modern diagnostic techniques in assessment of primary and coexistent atherosclerotic disease. The third section, new trends in arterial reconstruction, reflects the experience of the various authors and to some degree their bias in grafts, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, and renal and carotid surgery. The chapters are well organized and serve as an excellent reference source for further reading. The fourth section, special problems, contains an array of topics including amputation, brachiocephalic reconstruction and an excellent, much-needed chapter on vasculogenic impotence. Several “how-I-do-it” operative descriptions should be interesting to some readers. The final section, cenous and pulmonary embolism problems, is a timely, indepth, seven-chapter presentation of the prevention and medical and surgical management of acute venous thrombosis and its sequelae. Although many important current questions in vascular surgery are not addressed, this text provides concise, yell-organized enjoyable reading in the areas selected. The “question-asked” format is stimulating for the reader. Joseph P. Arch& Jr., M.D. University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
Manual of vascular accessprocedures Teruo Matsumoto, Simon Simonian, and A. Mohsen Kholoussy. East Norwalk, Conn, 1986, AppletonCentury-Crofts, 118 pages, $29.95. This manual outlines all the possible vascular and peritoneal access procedures for adult and pediatric patients. By the nature of the enormous magnitude of the topic, the text can only offer a brief outline in synopsis form of even operation and product that can be used for hemodialysis access or peritoneal access. To nurses, students, and young surgical residents, the manual provides an excellent overview of the field and, if used as an introduction to the specialty, is usehl. The diagrams are not sufficiently detailed to help in the technical performance of an operation and the bibliographies are scant. Details of the operations, results, and postoperative complications will need to be obtained from other texts. However, the manual is an acceptable starting point for a complex aspect of vascular surgery. Stan& Ma&l, M.D. University of Nwth Carolina
at Chapel Hill
Manual of vascular surgery, vol. 2 Edwin J. Wylie, Ronald J. Stoney, William K. Ehrenfeld, and David J. Effeney. Illustrated by Ted Bloodhart. New York, 1986, Springer-Verlag, 338 pages, $230.00. This is the second volume of a manual on vascular surgery, presenting the thoughts of the vascular service of the University of California in San Francisco as completed by the associates of the late Edwin J. Wylie. I am sure Dr. Wylie would have been proud of this volume since it presents the thoughts of the group with the same excellence with which they perform their vascular surgery. This edition includes chapters on surgical revascularization below the groin, acute obstructive disease of the lower extremities, amputation in the patient with vascular disorders, sympathectomy, complications of prosthetic grafts, nonatherosclerotic diseases of the extracranial carotid arteries, visceral artery compression syndromes, nonatherosclerotic renovascular hypertension, thoracic outlet syndromes, portal hypertension, surgery of the inferior vena cava, and hemodialysis access. Most of these chapters begin with comments on the pathophysiology and anatomy of the subject to be presented, followed by their thoughts on the clinical management of the problem. These comments are accompanied
783