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Current operative urology
BOOK REVIEWS Surgery in Chronic Renal Failure: Experiences with Dialysis and Transplant Patients by Friedrich W. Eigler and Hans Dieter Jakubowski New York, Thieme-Stratton Inc., 1984, $36.00 Distinguishing a book from a pseudobook has become increasingly difficult as the number of Transactions, Proceedings, and Symposia proliferate. Suspending pages on a single theme between covers does not necessarily create a scholarly work, though it fits the dictionary definition for a book. There are advantages to the rush to publish. Information otherwise unavailable may be conveniently collected in a single resource. Clinical truths so well known to practitioners in the field that they appear to be self-evident, may be set down in writing for the first time, enabling trainees to share the wisdom. Success of a rushed nonbook is contingent on the modulation of its editor. Chapter sequence, deletion of irrelevant information, and emphasis on what is new and worthy, are chores assigned to the volume editor(s). At $36, Eigler and Jakubowski have prepared a relative bargain in an educational resource. Had they supplied synthetic thought, uniform references, and a needed index, their labors would have yielded the first edition of what might have evolved into the reference standard on an intriguing subject instead of an ephemeral, but useful nonbook. “Surgery in Chronic Renal Failure” illustrates the reader’s dilemma in appraising a nonbook. On the one hand the volume’s subject is original and vital to surgeon and nephrologist, while on the other, chapters as short as one half of a single column page, i.e., “Pressure/flow studies (Whitaker Test) in children with CRF and equivocal upper urinary tract obstruction,” can hardly cover a complex topic. This publication resulted from a 1983 meeting at the University of Essen, I? II. Germany. It is divided into eleven sections containing 84 chapters in a total of 256 pages. Some contributions are logical, concise, and helpful such as the excellent review of epidemiology and pathophysiology of uremia by Eigler and Gurland, and Newton’s short, yet thorough presentation on anesthesia for the uremic patient. A few chapters are unique, indeed invaluable, in that the data exist nowhere else, such as a section on parathyroidectomy including four reports of hypertrophy in a parathyroid autotransplant. Detracting from the book’s overall thrust are irrelevant essays with no obvious related connection to “Surgery in Chronic Renal Failure,” exemplified by a review of malignancy in renal failure, and a case report of salmonellosis in a patient with polycystic kidneys. Urologists will find that chapters on urologic operations in hemodialyzed patients and bladder
UROLOGY
/ NOVEMBER
1984
/ VOLUME
XXIV, NUMBER
dynamics and urethral strictures in kidney transplant recipients, provide basic information and key references. On balance, Surgery in Chronic Renal Failure is worth owning because of the rapidity with which answers can be found to common questions surrounding intended surgery in patients with failed kidneys. EAF Current Operative Urology by E. Douglas Whitehead and Elliot Leiter J. P Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, $195.00
1984,
The second edition of “Current Operative Urology,” vastly expanded and up to date, has just been released. This large volume of 1,692 pages with 1,241 illustrations and 338 tables is overwhelming, and the list of the 235 contributors looks like a Who’s Who of the urologic “establishment” here and abroad. This book is remarkably well organized and structured. In 126 chapters 50 subject areas are presented and discussed by internationally known experts, and the whole range of urologic operative procedures is excellently covered. The most fascinating aspect of this almost encyclopedic work, however, is its very unusual and highly original format. In his introduction to the first edition, Robert S. Hotchkiss expressed his concern with the huge mass of urologic literature and the increasing inability of the practicing urologist to cope with all of it. He pointed out the difficulty of making intelligent decisions on controversial issues when sufficient exposure and individual experience are lacking. He also felt that valuable publications often escape the attention of the urologist since patient-care is encroaching more and more on the time necessary for reading and progressive self-education. Focusing on these problems the editors chose as a basis of discussion articles of the last decade which have been shown to be of lasting value, contributed to advances in urologic surgery, and laid foundations for future development and progress in operative urology. These papers appear in their entirety at the beginning of every chapter and are directly related to the subject areas. They are then followed by a commentary and annotated references, given by the same author or by an authority who is particularly experienced in this field. A final overview at the end of every subject area presented by another expert lends one more dimension of thought and observations to this interesting construction. One would agree with Dr. Hotchkiss when he recommends this form of urologic synthesis also for HS other categories of urologic science.
5
525
UROLOGY
/ NOVEMBER
1984
/ VOLUME
XXIV, NUMBER
dynamics and urethral strictures in kidney transplant recipients, provide basic information and key references. On balance, Surgery in Chronic Renal Failure is worth owning because of the rapidity with which answers can be found to common questions surrounding intended surgery in patients with failed kidneys. EAF Current Operative Urology by E. Douglas Whitehead and Elliot Leiter J. P Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, $195.00
1984,
The second edition of “Current Operative Urology,” vastly expanded and up to date, has just been released. This large volume of 1,692 pages with 1,241 illustrations and 338 tables is overwhelming, and the list of the 235 contributors looks like a Who’s Who of the urologic “establishment” here and abroad. This book is remarkably well organized and structured. In 126 chapters 50 subject areas are presented and discussed by internationally known experts, and the whole range of urologic operative procedures is excellently covered. The most fascinating aspect of this almost encyclopedic work, however, is its very unusual and highly original format. In his introduction to the first edition, Robert S. Hotchkiss expressed his concern with the huge mass of urologic literature and the increasing inability of the practicing urologist to cope with all of it. He pointed out the difficulty of making intelligent decisions on controversial issues when sufficient exposure and individual experience are lacking. He also felt that valuable publications often escape the attention of the urologist since patient-care is encroaching more and more on the time necessary for reading and progressive self-education. Focusing on these problems the editors chose as a basis of discussion articles of the last decade which have been shown to be of lasting value, contributed to advances in urologic surgery, and laid foundations for future development and progress in operative urology. These papers appear in their entirety at the beginning of every chapter and are directly related to the subject areas. They are then followed by a commentary and annotated references, given by the same author or by an authority who is particularly experienced in this field. A final overview at the end of every subject area presented by another expert lends one more dimension of thought and observations to this interesting construction. One would agree with Dr. Hotchkiss when he recommends this form of urologic synthesis also for HS other categories of urologic science.
5
525