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Atlas of Emergency Radiology
Book Reviews Atlas of Emergency Radiology Review by Luis H. Haro, MD The Clinical Practice of Emergency Medicine, Third Edition Review by John H. van de Leuv, MD,CM Copyright © 2001 by the American College of Emergency Physicians. 0196-0644/2001/$35.00 + 0 47/8/116889
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Atlas of Emergency Radiology Johnson GA, Cohen H, Wojtowycz AR, et al (eds) WB Saunders, 2001 294 pages, $75 ISBN 0-7216-7142-X This atlas is exactly what it was meant to be: a brief, focused, clinically relevant pictorial of the bread and butter of emergency radiology. It was designed for emergency physicians and ambulatory care providers and is largely composed of excellent examples of classic and not so classic (but clinically relevant) high-definition radiographs. Divided into 8 chapters, the atlas takes less than 12 hours to review. The chapter on cardiothoracic conditions covers all the basics from normal to pulmonary edema, thoracic aneurysm, pneumonia, pneumothorax, pulmonary contusions, and diaphragmatic ruptures. The films are of good quality with brief and accurate definitions. The abdominal chapter goes to a point with useful clinical information and classic films and brief definitions. There are excellent examples of free air, comparisons of small versus large intestinal obstruction, cecal versus sigmoid volvulus, and lots of foreign bodies. The skull and face chapter is good but could definitely improve. It does cover basic and classic films in the emergency diagnosis of the face, yet skull radiography has almost no indications any more. Some mandibular fractures and perhaps some examples of impacted teeth are lacking. The spine is perhaps the most difficult
topic to illustrate in such a brief review. The most common fractures and dislocations are well described with nice high-definition films. The use of arrows pointing out injuries would be an invaluable aid to clinicians who might not be used to routinely evaluating spine films. The pelvic and lower extremity chapter is well done, with all the basics, plus a few interesting uncommon fracture dislocations that are clinically relevant. I like the way it sticks to the essentials of these injuries with brief and accurate descriptions. Included are Lisfranc’s fracture-dislocation, Jones fracture, patterns of hip fractures, and great examples of knee, ankle, and foot injuries. The upper extremity chapter covers Bankart’s fracture, Hill-Sachs lesions, elbow fractures with the fat pads, Smith’s and Colles’ fractures, and Monteggia’s fracturedislocation. The hand section includes scaphoid fractures, lunate, and perilunate dislocations as well as other common injuries. Perhaps most useful to the beginner are the examples of pediatric radiography because evaluating children is often challenging. Some examples are toddler’s fracture, Salter-Harris fracture, slipped capital femoral epiphysis, Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, elbow injuries, and finally examples of child abuse. This chapter is extremely basic, summarized well in less than 30 pages. Last, there is a chapter with a brief overview of bone lesions, with pathologic fractures and examples of multiple myeloma, Paget’s disease, Charcot joint, and other pathology less relevant to emergency medicine. This atlas is well done. It is a must have,
ANNALS OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE
38:2 AUGUST 2001
BOOK REVIEWS
must read reference for the moonlighter, and a good review for the resident. Anyone but the most seasoned emergency clinician will benefit from this good book. Luis H. Haro, MD Department of Emergency Medicine Saint Mary’s Hospital Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN
The Clinical Practice of Emergency Medicine, Third Edition Harwood-Nuss A, Wolfson AB, Linden CH, et al (eds) Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2000 1,872 pages, $189 ISBN 0-7817-1680-2 Reviewing an emergency textbook of this size and breadth, representing the full gamut of emergency medicine, is no mean task. To comment on all 415 chapters or 1,800 pages is impossible in the time allotted. This review would probably be finished by the time the next edition is ready for publication. Thus, to do this review justice, I chose chapters at random, and used the text while evaluating certain conditions in the emergency department. Whenever possible, the content was compared with other authoritative texts of similar caliber: Tintinalli’s1 and Rosen’s.2 For a start, the editors are to be congratulated for keeping the chapter authors in line, producing a uniformity of presentation. Almost without exception, the reader can find elements of each chapter in the same order from one chapter to the next. As with any text, production time will create a problem with presentation of the most recent developments in emergency medicine. For instance, the latest advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) protocols, issued by the American Heart Association and other organizations, are obviously not included. This is unavoidable. A reader would do well to keep abreast of new wrinkles in emergency care through journal articles and other publications. Apart from these shortcomings that are inherent in all textbooks, the Clinical Practice of Emergency Medicine is an extremely useful reference. EDs would do well to include it in the ED library. The list of contribution
AUGUST 2001
38:2
authors is impressive. Many names can be connected with substantial authority on the matters that are a daily part of our practice of emergency medicine. Given that a picture is worth a thousand words, Harwood-Nuss’—as it has come to be called—could use more. This paucity of illustrations stands out in contrast to Tintinalli’s1 and Rosen’s2 texts. Another feature that makes the text a little more cumbersome to use is the weight of the paper used. Perhaps for the sake of keeping this text to a single volume, the decision was made to go with thin paper. There are a few comments to be made, unearthed by the perusal of a fair number of chapters. Perhaps I am too skeptical, but the mention of eye trauma constituting up to 10% of ED visits seems too steep. One other surprising element is the disregard of cyproheptadine (Periactin) as one of the most potent antipruritics, far surpassing the effectiveness of diphenhydramine (Benadryl) for this purpose. Also the comment on epistaxis: “most patients require follow-up with an otolaryngologist,” does not approximate reality in everyday ED practice. When dealing with a patient with tardive dyskinesia, I could not find any description of it in this text. On the positive side is the useful inclusion of a pitfalls section at the end of the chapters. The fact that a few apparent misstatements will crop up notwithstanding, this text is a monumental addition to the documentation of knowledge about emergency medicine. As mentioned, it is a must for any ED that wants to have a complete library available to emergency medicine practitioners. John H. van de Leuv, MD,CM Southampton Memorial Hospital Franklin, VA Capitol Medical Center Richmond, VA 1. Tintinalli JE, Kelen GD, Stapczynski JS, eds. Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 1999. 2. Rosen P, Barkin R, eds. Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 4th ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby–Year Book; 1998.
ANNALS OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE
1 9 7
1 9 6
Atlas of Emergency Radiology Johnson GA, Cohen H, Wojtowycz AR, et al (eds) WB Saunders, 2001 294 pages, $75 ISBN 0-7216-7142-X This atlas is exactly what it was meant to be: a brief, focused, clinically relevant pictorial of the bread and butter of emergency radiology. It was designed for emergency physicians and ambulatory care providers and is largely composed of excellent examples of classic and not so classic (but clinically relevant) high-definition radiographs. Divided into 8 chapters, the atlas takes less than 12 hours to review. The chapter on cardiothoracic conditions covers all the basics from normal to pulmonary edema, thoracic aneurysm, pneumonia, pneumothorax, pulmonary contusions, and diaphragmatic ruptures. The films are of good quality with brief and accurate definitions. The abdominal chapter goes to a point with useful clinical information and classic films and brief definitions. There are excellent examples of free air, comparisons of small versus large intestinal obstruction, cecal versus sigmoid volvulus, and lots of foreign bodies. The skull and face chapter is good but could definitely improve. It does cover basic and classic films in the emergency diagnosis of the face, yet skull radiography has almost no indications any more. Some mandibular fractures and perhaps some examples of impacted teeth are lacking. The spine is perhaps the most difficult
topic to illustrate in such a brief review. The most common fractures and dislocations are well described with nice high-definition films. The use of arrows pointing out injuries would be an invaluable aid to clinicians who might not be used to routinely evaluating spine films. The pelvic and lower extremity chapter is well done, with all the basics, plus a few interesting uncommon fracture dislocations that are clinically relevant. I like the way it sticks to the essentials of these injuries with brief and accurate descriptions. Included are Lisfranc’s fracture-dislocation, Jones fracture, patterns of hip fractures, and great examples of knee, ankle, and foot injuries. The upper extremity chapter covers Bankart’s fracture, Hill-Sachs lesions, elbow fractures with the fat pads, Smith’s and Colles’ fractures, and Monteggia’s fracturedislocation. The hand section includes scaphoid fractures, lunate, and perilunate dislocations as well as other common injuries. Perhaps most useful to the beginner are the examples of pediatric radiography because evaluating children is often challenging. Some examples are toddler’s fracture, Salter-Harris fracture, slipped capital femoral epiphysis, Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, elbow injuries, and finally examples of child abuse. This chapter is extremely basic, summarized well in less than 30 pages. Last, there is a chapter with a brief overview of bone lesions, with pathologic fractures and examples of multiple myeloma, Paget’s disease, Charcot joint, and other pathology less relevant to emergency medicine. This atlas is well done. It is a must have,
ANNALS OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE
38:2 AUGUST 2001
BOOK REVIEWS
must read reference for the moonlighter, and a good review for the resident. Anyone but the most seasoned emergency clinician will benefit from this good book. Luis H. Haro, MD Department of Emergency Medicine Saint Mary’s Hospital Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN
The Clinical Practice of Emergency Medicine, Third Edition Harwood-Nuss A, Wolfson AB, Linden CH, et al (eds) Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2000 1,872 pages, $189 ISBN 0-7817-1680-2 Reviewing an emergency textbook of this size and breadth, representing the full gamut of emergency medicine, is no mean task. To comment on all 415 chapters or 1,800 pages is impossible in the time allotted. This review would probably be finished by the time the next edition is ready for publication. Thus, to do this review justice, I chose chapters at random, and used the text while evaluating certain conditions in the emergency department. Whenever possible, the content was compared with other authoritative texts of similar caliber: Tintinalli’s1 and Rosen’s.2 For a start, the editors are to be congratulated for keeping the chapter authors in line, producing a uniformity of presentation. Almost without exception, the reader can find elements of each chapter in the same order from one chapter to the next. As with any text, production time will create a problem with presentation of the most recent developments in emergency medicine. For instance, the latest advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) protocols, issued by the American Heart Association and other organizations, are obviously not included. This is unavoidable. A reader would do well to keep abreast of new wrinkles in emergency care through journal articles and other publications. Apart from these shortcomings that are inherent in all textbooks, the Clinical Practice of Emergency Medicine is an extremely useful reference. EDs would do well to include it in the ED library. The list of contribution
AUGUST 2001
38:2
authors is impressive. Many names can be connected with substantial authority on the matters that are a daily part of our practice of emergency medicine. Given that a picture is worth a thousand words, Harwood-Nuss’—as it has come to be called—could use more. This paucity of illustrations stands out in contrast to Tintinalli’s1 and Rosen’s2 texts. Another feature that makes the text a little more cumbersome to use is the weight of the paper used. Perhaps for the sake of keeping this text to a single volume, the decision was made to go with thin paper. There are a few comments to be made, unearthed by the perusal of a fair number of chapters. Perhaps I am too skeptical, but the mention of eye trauma constituting up to 10% of ED visits seems too steep. One other surprising element is the disregard of cyproheptadine (Periactin) as one of the most potent antipruritics, far surpassing the effectiveness of diphenhydramine (Benadryl) for this purpose. Also the comment on epistaxis: “most patients require follow-up with an otolaryngologist,” does not approximate reality in everyday ED practice. When dealing with a patient with tardive dyskinesia, I could not find any description of it in this text. On the positive side is the useful inclusion of a pitfalls section at the end of the chapters. The fact that a few apparent misstatements will crop up notwithstanding, this text is a monumental addition to the documentation of knowledge about emergency medicine. As mentioned, it is a must for any ED that wants to have a complete library available to emergency medicine practitioners. John H. van de Leuv, MD,CM Southampton Memorial Hospital Franklin, VA Capitol Medical Center Richmond, VA 1. Tintinalli JE, Kelen GD, Stapczynski JS, eds. Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 1999. 2. Rosen P, Barkin R, eds. Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 4th ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby–Year Book; 1998.
ANNALS OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE
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