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A colour atlas of head and neck anatomy
BOOK
109
REVIEWS
established surgeon will find little new but the book is worth reading for its thoughtful approach to general management. surgical treatment and prognosis. BRUCE N. BAILEY
The Immune Consequences of Thermal Injury. By John Ninnemann, PhD. (Baltimore/London: Wilkins, 1981). Price $44.50.
Williams
L. and
This book is a collection of papers presented at the I st Workshop on the Immune Consequences of Thermal Injury, at Lake Arrowhead, California in 1979. It represents an effort to compile in one volume some of the research being undertaken in connection with burned patients. The articles reflect contemporary immunological thinking in burns research. This is on balance a successful exercise inasmuch as fundamental as well as clinical aspects are considered. The book is dedicated to the late Kehl Markeley. It contains contributions from 25 different authors codified into 16 chapters covering aspects of both cellmediated and humoral immunity. Upon reading this book one is left with an awareness of how very scarce our knowledge about burned patients really is and we were personally left with a feeling of urgency to learn more about this problem. The book is thus a beginning rather than an end in its own right. Alterations, both at cellular and humoral levels, of the phagocytic. complement and lymphoid systems, and the results of studies on the effects of burns products are reported. The scope of vaccination is described and the possibility of immunological manipulation is discussed. This work conlirms that sepsis is still the major problem to be solved in burns and that the processes activated by thermal injury that cause altered immunological responses are not clear. neither are the underlying immunological mechanisms. In view of the present status of our knowledge. this does not inspire one with the possibility of practically improving immunological function and emphasises the need for more fundamental and clinical research. Concerning the book itself. it would have been very helpful to include a key to the abbreviations at the beginning of each chapter. Figures and Tables, especially those giving experimental results, are in general not self-explanatory and their captions are often insufficient. On pages 240 and 241: Fig. 14.2 is actually 14.3 and vice versa. However, this is a book that valiantly tries to unify and compile scattered information. We recommend it for people dealing with burns, including clinicians, surgeons, clinical laboratory staff. immunologists and cell and molecular biologists. DR HUGO BURGOS PROFESSOR W. PAGE FAULK
A Colour Atlas of Head and Neck Anatomy. By R. M . H . McMinn, Edition. (London: &18.00.
R. T. Hutchings and B. M. Logan. First Pp. 239 finnumerable illustrations in colour Wolfe Medical Publications Ltd, 1981). Price
The authors, who have already published a superb “Colour Atlas of Human Anatomy”, have produced this companion volume dealing specifically with the head and neck. The illustrations are all in colour and the detail is remarkable. Anatomical dissections which are museum specimens from the Royal College of Surgeons in London, stand out with
stereoscopic clarity that owes a great deal to some first class photography. The osteology section is reproduced against a black background and here again the detail is astounding. The brain and spinal cord are dealt with in similar fashion and there is a short but informative radiological section. The index is comprehensive and there is a most useful appendix that provides “at a glance” references to muscle groups, branches of nerves and arteries. tributaries of veins and to lymph nodes. The illustrations have identification marks overlying individual structures and a key on the opposite page that can allow the reader to test his knowledge by covering up the key. Now that surgeons from many disciplines are operating at greater depth in the head and neck, on both the soft tissues and the deeper skeletal tissues, this atlas provides a mass of accurate information that is not available in any other book. The authors and the production team deserve the highest praise for a volume that will assuredly run to many editions. MICHAEL N. TEMPEST
Atlas of General Surgery (Rob & Smith). Compiled Hugh
Dudley.
innumerable Ltd. 1981).
ChM.
FRCS.
illustrations. Price E25.00.
First
(London:
Edition.
by Pp. 751 with
Butterworth
& Co.
The multivolume “Textbook on Operative Surgery” that was edited by Professor Charles Rob and Mr Rodney Smith in the late 1940’s has been published in three editions and we are told in the Introduction that a fourth edition is now being prepared. All these volumes did their best with clear drawings and concise text to illustrate the principles of surgery and describe in detail the operative steps required in the more common operations in all the individual specialties. Some of the volumes were devoted to individual specialties, others brought together articles from several disciplines as in the excellent volume on Accident Surgery, edited by Peter London. This Atlas of General Surgery is an attempt to gather together between one set of covers, material presented in the third edition of Operative Surgery that could provide a vademecum of surgical operations that could be properly regarded as general surgery. For this reason this Atlas contains very little that we have not already seen or glanced at in the parent volumes. This familiarity with most of the illustrations (not all of them up to present day standards) rather takes the edge off the usual excitement and anticipation that one experiences on opening a new book. There is however one new section on subtotal thyroidectomy specially prepared for this Atlas and some additional material on day surgery or short stay surgery for inguinal and femoral hernia patients. This is a heavy book with large pages and it does not lend itself to comfortable armchair reading. It is a book for the surgeons room in the operating theatre. but not the coffee table, and for the postgraduate student who wishes to revise for his Fellowship examination. MICHAEL N. TEMPEST
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the Face: Cosmetic Surgery. By Frank W. Pirruccello, MD. Pp. xiii + 88 with illustrations. (Baltimore and London: numerous Williams and Wilkins, 1981). Price E31.25. When a publisher sends a complementary copy of a new journal or book, it is always on the understanding that the Editor is
109
REVIEWS
established surgeon will find little new but the book is worth reading for its thoughtful approach to general management. surgical treatment and prognosis. BRUCE N. BAILEY
The Immune Consequences of Thermal Injury. By John Ninnemann, PhD. (Baltimore/London: Wilkins, 1981). Price $44.50.
Williams
L. and
This book is a collection of papers presented at the I st Workshop on the Immune Consequences of Thermal Injury, at Lake Arrowhead, California in 1979. It represents an effort to compile in one volume some of the research being undertaken in connection with burned patients. The articles reflect contemporary immunological thinking in burns research. This is on balance a successful exercise inasmuch as fundamental as well as clinical aspects are considered. The book is dedicated to the late Kehl Markeley. It contains contributions from 25 different authors codified into 16 chapters covering aspects of both cellmediated and humoral immunity. Upon reading this book one is left with an awareness of how very scarce our knowledge about burned patients really is and we were personally left with a feeling of urgency to learn more about this problem. The book is thus a beginning rather than an end in its own right. Alterations, both at cellular and humoral levels, of the phagocytic. complement and lymphoid systems, and the results of studies on the effects of burns products are reported. The scope of vaccination is described and the possibility of immunological manipulation is discussed. This work conlirms that sepsis is still the major problem to be solved in burns and that the processes activated by thermal injury that cause altered immunological responses are not clear. neither are the underlying immunological mechanisms. In view of the present status of our knowledge. this does not inspire one with the possibility of practically improving immunological function and emphasises the need for more fundamental and clinical research. Concerning the book itself. it would have been very helpful to include a key to the abbreviations at the beginning of each chapter. Figures and Tables, especially those giving experimental results, are in general not self-explanatory and their captions are often insufficient. On pages 240 and 241: Fig. 14.2 is actually 14.3 and vice versa. However, this is a book that valiantly tries to unify and compile scattered information. We recommend it for people dealing with burns, including clinicians, surgeons, clinical laboratory staff. immunologists and cell and molecular biologists. DR HUGO BURGOS PROFESSOR W. PAGE FAULK
A Colour Atlas of Head and Neck Anatomy. By R. M . H . McMinn, Edition. (London: &18.00.
R. T. Hutchings and B. M. Logan. First Pp. 239 finnumerable illustrations in colour Wolfe Medical Publications Ltd, 1981). Price
The authors, who have already published a superb “Colour Atlas of Human Anatomy”, have produced this companion volume dealing specifically with the head and neck. The illustrations are all in colour and the detail is remarkable. Anatomical dissections which are museum specimens from the Royal College of Surgeons in London, stand out with
stereoscopic clarity that owes a great deal to some first class photography. The osteology section is reproduced against a black background and here again the detail is astounding. The brain and spinal cord are dealt with in similar fashion and there is a short but informative radiological section. The index is comprehensive and there is a most useful appendix that provides “at a glance” references to muscle groups, branches of nerves and arteries. tributaries of veins and to lymph nodes. The illustrations have identification marks overlying individual structures and a key on the opposite page that can allow the reader to test his knowledge by covering up the key. Now that surgeons from many disciplines are operating at greater depth in the head and neck, on both the soft tissues and the deeper skeletal tissues, this atlas provides a mass of accurate information that is not available in any other book. The authors and the production team deserve the highest praise for a volume that will assuredly run to many editions. MICHAEL N. TEMPEST
Atlas of General Surgery (Rob & Smith). Compiled Hugh
Dudley.
innumerable Ltd. 1981).
ChM.
FRCS.
illustrations. Price E25.00.
First
(London:
Edition.
by Pp. 751 with
Butterworth
& Co.
The multivolume “Textbook on Operative Surgery” that was edited by Professor Charles Rob and Mr Rodney Smith in the late 1940’s has been published in three editions and we are told in the Introduction that a fourth edition is now being prepared. All these volumes did their best with clear drawings and concise text to illustrate the principles of surgery and describe in detail the operative steps required in the more common operations in all the individual specialties. Some of the volumes were devoted to individual specialties, others brought together articles from several disciplines as in the excellent volume on Accident Surgery, edited by Peter London. This Atlas of General Surgery is an attempt to gather together between one set of covers, material presented in the third edition of Operative Surgery that could provide a vademecum of surgical operations that could be properly regarded as general surgery. For this reason this Atlas contains very little that we have not already seen or glanced at in the parent volumes. This familiarity with most of the illustrations (not all of them up to present day standards) rather takes the edge off the usual excitement and anticipation that one experiences on opening a new book. There is however one new section on subtotal thyroidectomy specially prepared for this Atlas and some additional material on day surgery or short stay surgery for inguinal and femoral hernia patients. This is a heavy book with large pages and it does not lend itself to comfortable armchair reading. It is a book for the surgeons room in the operating theatre. but not the coffee table, and for the postgraduate student who wishes to revise for his Fellowship examination. MICHAEL N. TEMPEST
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the Face: Cosmetic Surgery. By Frank W. Pirruccello, MD. Pp. xiii + 88 with illustrations. (Baltimore and London: numerous Williams and Wilkins, 1981). Price E31.25. When a publisher sends a complementary copy of a new journal or book, it is always on the understanding that the Editor is