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Cardiovascular surgery
BOOK REVIEWS
Cardiovascular Surgery. By GeraId H. Pratt, PhiIadeIphia, 1954. Lea & Febiger. CIoth binding, 843 pages, with 358 illustrations on 261 figures and 4 coIor plates. Price $15.00.
This is a timely and an important book. The author, with a sound basic training and about twenty years of teaching and active cIinica1 work (in cIinics and operating rooms), has an adequate and soIid background for this voIume. It is we11 written, without padding, and covers the subject in every respect. It was written primarity for surgeons and students, but physicians wil1 find it an idea1 refresher postgraduate course, and instructors wiII find it an up-to-the-minute aid in undergraduate teaching. This work brings a summary of accepted or acceptable treatment for cardiovascular lesions. The author is refreshing in his frankness. In the Preface he says, “AI1 new reports are not included. It is accepted that tomorrow there may be a new discovery which makes some dogma of this text obsoIete.” AssembIed in sections, the first section deals with the new nomenclature; the second section discusses anesthesia, cardiac arrest and resuscitation, bIood and ffuid baIance and the employment of antibiotic drugs; the third part is concerned with operations on the heart. Cardiac physiology, thoracotomy and, also, measures are incIuded for both congenital and acquired heart disease. Accepted and experimenta1 measures are considered, as are the treatment of coronary occlusion, tumors of the heart and lesions of the pericardium. The arterial system, injuries to vessels, therapy for aneurysms and emboIisms, grafting and bIood vesse1 banks, and the surgica1 treatment of hypertension are given adequate consideration. The author reviews the venous system, changes in the therapy of lymphatic obstruction, efforts to divert the circuIation, methods of bypassing parts or sections of the heart and bIood vesseIs, and other procedures such as angiog-
939
raphy, cardioangiography and cardiac catheterization. Skin grafting, the surgical treatment of portal hypertension and the significance of atomic energy and radioactive isotopes, carotid body tumor, carotid sinus syndrome, and the importance of injuries and occupationa hazards in a patient with cardiovascuIar disease and in the person who has had such a disease rounds out the work. This is a pertinent subject, thoroughly and we11 covered. Atlas of Exfoliative Cytology. By George N. PapanicoIaou, M.D., PH.D. Cambridge, 1954. Published for the Commonwealth Fund by Harvard University Press. Price $18.00.
This is an exceptional and outstanding work. Its appeal will be mainly to pathologists and certain laboratory workers; however, surgeons, gynecologists and even workers in the medical fields would do we11 to become conversant with more than a superficia1 knowIedge of this method of diagnosis. The preface reads (in part): “The study of exfoIiated cells found in various secretory and excretory fluids of the body has received added impetus in the past three decades . . . A real and urgent need has thus been created for publications providing a detailed description and ilrustration of the enormous variety of cells desquamating from normal or neopIastic surfaces . . . The present work is a further contribution toward this end.” It is of real value in two broad fields: (I) the physiology and endocrinology of the femaIe sex organs and (2) the diagnosis of certain pathoIogic conditions, more particuIarIy cancer. There are thirty-six full pages of colored plates which have been beautifuIIy done. The text is brief. The pages are IO>$ by 8 inches. The cover is flexible and the text pages are held by the loose-leaf method so that future additions can be easily made to the present book. This is one of the exceptional scientific works T.S.W. of the year.
Cardiovascular Surgery. By GeraId H. Pratt, PhiIadeIphia, 1954. Lea & Febiger. CIoth binding, 843 pages, with 358 illustrations on 261 figures and 4 coIor plates. Price $15.00.
This is a timely and an important book. The author, with a sound basic training and about twenty years of teaching and active cIinica1 work (in cIinics and operating rooms), has an adequate and soIid background for this voIume. It is we11 written, without padding, and covers the subject in every respect. It was written primarity for surgeons and students, but physicians wil1 find it an idea1 refresher postgraduate course, and instructors wiII find it an up-to-the-minute aid in undergraduate teaching. This work brings a summary of accepted or acceptable treatment for cardiovascular lesions. The author is refreshing in his frankness. In the Preface he says, “AI1 new reports are not included. It is accepted that tomorrow there may be a new discovery which makes some dogma of this text obsoIete.” AssembIed in sections, the first section deals with the new nomenclature; the second section discusses anesthesia, cardiac arrest and resuscitation, bIood and ffuid baIance and the employment of antibiotic drugs; the third part is concerned with operations on the heart. Cardiac physiology, thoracotomy and, also, measures are incIuded for both congenital and acquired heart disease. Accepted and experimenta1 measures are considered, as are the treatment of coronary occlusion, tumors of the heart and lesions of the pericardium. The arterial system, injuries to vessels, therapy for aneurysms and emboIisms, grafting and bIood vesse1 banks, and the surgica1 treatment of hypertension are given adequate consideration. The author reviews the venous system, changes in the therapy of lymphatic obstruction, efforts to divert the circuIation, methods of bypassing parts or sections of the heart and bIood vesseIs, and other procedures such as angiog-
939
raphy, cardioangiography and cardiac catheterization. Skin grafting, the surgical treatment of portal hypertension and the significance of atomic energy and radioactive isotopes, carotid body tumor, carotid sinus syndrome, and the importance of injuries and occupationa hazards in a patient with cardiovascuIar disease and in the person who has had such a disease rounds out the work. This is a pertinent subject, thoroughly and we11 covered. Atlas of Exfoliative Cytology. By George N. PapanicoIaou, M.D., PH.D. Cambridge, 1954. Published for the Commonwealth Fund by Harvard University Press. Price $18.00.
This is an exceptional and outstanding work. Its appeal will be mainly to pathologists and certain laboratory workers; however, surgeons, gynecologists and even workers in the medical fields would do we11 to become conversant with more than a superficia1 knowIedge of this method of diagnosis. The preface reads (in part): “The study of exfoIiated cells found in various secretory and excretory fluids of the body has received added impetus in the past three decades . . . A real and urgent need has thus been created for publications providing a detailed description and ilrustration of the enormous variety of cells desquamating from normal or neopIastic surfaces . . . The present work is a further contribution toward this end.” It is of real value in two broad fields: (I) the physiology and endocrinology of the femaIe sex organs and (2) the diagnosis of certain pathoIogic conditions, more particuIarIy cancer. There are thirty-six full pages of colored plates which have been beautifuIIy done. The text is brief. The pages are IO>$ by 8 inches. The cover is flexible and the text pages are held by the loose-leaf method so that future additions can be easily made to the present book. This is one of the exceptional scientific works T.S.W. of the year.