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Histological Typing of Odontogenic Tuniuors
REVIEWS
BOOK
the book concentrates upon airway epithelial injury i n asthma and is a thoughtful examination of the contribution of inflammation and the products of different populations of inflammatory leucocytes to the process. In addition, there are useful discussions of epithelial ion transport in cystic fibrosis and the possible involvement of pulmonary neuroendocrine cells in airway responses in disease. The final section is largely devoted to epithelium-derived inhibitory or relaxing factoi-(s) and its possible role in airway hyper-responsiveness. The existence of this mediator(s) remains to be conclusively established and much of the information i n these chapters is a description of experimental phenomena. Because the story has not yet matured to the point where it contributes much to an understanding of pathophysiology, the reader is left feeling somewhat dissatisfied. Thus, although these reviews are well-written and representative of the state of the art at the time of publicarion, it seems likely that progress in the field may render them obsolete more rapidly than the other chapters. This book does achieve its aim of focusing attention upon the cellular biology of airway epithelial cells and their interactions with other resident and recruited cell populations. I t is therefore a useful contribution io the field but its comparatively narrow focus means that its target audience is more restricted than that of many previous volumes in the series. Like those volumes, it remains altogether too expensiLe for purchase by an individual researcher, but would be worth recommending to the institutional library. R . Kirmur
Pubnonary Endocrine Pathology. J O H NR . COSNEYButterworthHeinemann Ltd, Oxford, London, Boston, Munich, New Delhi, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Wellington, 1992. ISBN 0-7506-1440-4, pp. 184, AUDS175.00. This quite small Lolume of 10 chapters and comprising 179 page, of text, gives an overview of the subject which is as up to date as possible in this type of presentation. The book is well planned and includes not only pathology, but also introductory chapters covering the anatomy, physiology and embryology of the pulmonary endocrine system as well as its relationship to the similar endocrine cells in the gut and other organs. The theme develops through reactions of the pulmonary endocrine system to disease and experimental injury, including the changes occurring in common lung diseases such as asthma, emphysema and inflammatory lung diseases as well as the effect of substances such as nicotine and the experimental production of pulmonary endocrine tumours in animals. The second half of the book will be of more interest to the practising pathologist, describing the detailed morphology and endocrine characteristics of carcinoids, atypical carcinoids, small cell carcinomas and its variants as well as the relationships and overlap of these tumor divisions. The presentation of these chapters is such as to give the reader a very clear overview of the subject and is a worthwhile read even lor those who are very familiar with the area. The final chapter which is concerned with the paraneoplastic effects of these tumors is a useful and conciw summary of the clinical features of these syndromes and again provides some understanding of the possible mechanisms involved. The material is very extensively referenced in the text, and each reference includes the names of the authors (usually all) as well as the year of publication. The book is an excellent exposition of the subject and should be of interest to all anatomical pathologists. B. Goodrnun
Histological Typing of Odontogenic Tuniuors. 2nd ed. I. R . H. K R . z \ ~ E RJ. . J. P I N D H O R C A N D M. SHEAR.Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Budapest, 1992. ISBN 0-387-54142-X, pp. x + 118, DM72, AUD$66.50. Odontogenic tumors are an admittedly rare and potentially confusing group of neoplasms which most pathologists see only occasionally. The 3 senior editors listed above were also involved in the first edition issued
217
by the World Health Organization in 1971, and i t is not surprising therefore that there are no radical changes in this edition. The editors and consultants are to be congratulated on having produced a clear and comprehensive statement of the present classification of odontogenic tumors and similar lesions. New entities included for the first time include the desmoplastic and papilliferous forms of ameloblastoma, clear cell odontogenic tumor, squamous odontogenic tumor and amongst the allied lesions, the paradental and glandular odontogenic cyst,. The expansion of the section on odontogenic cysts will be welcome, as specimens of dental cysts are received by many laboratories. Some miFconceptions such as the “fissural” globulo-maxillary cyst have been logically enough discarded. Changes in nomenclature include replacement of gigantiform cementoma by florid cemento-osseous dysplasia and the book gives clear guidance on favoured terminology. That the diagnosis of many of these cysts or tumors may depend upon the clinical and radiographic features considered together with the histological findings is appropriately emphasized. Irritatingly, odontomes still appear in the list of odontogenic tumors rather than grouped separately a5 malformations which seems to me very misleading. The quality of the photomicrographs, one of the strengths of the previous edition, remains outstanding. Although the text occasionally assumes the style of an ex cathedra pronouncement - e.g., the adenomatoid odontogenic tumor “is generally believed not to be a neoplasm”, in most cases there is little sitting on the fence and the book usually gives a clear summary of current thinking. Although this series of WHO publications are not intended to serve as textbooks, they are not a bad introduction either and most trainees would benefit from having read this, rather than plunging into larger texts. I f you have not seen (or recognized!) any of the above lesions since 1971 you will probably not need the updated version, but perhaps you could persuade the Hospital library or your trainees to buy it instead. M . Walker
Gynecological Tumors. Edited by N. SASANO. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, London, Paris, 1992. ISBN 0-387-52955-1, pp. xi + 378, DM275. This book is edited by Emeritus Professor N. Sasano of Tohoku University who conceived the book as a follow-up to a symposium “Recent Progress in Diagnostic Pathology of Gynecological Tumors” sponsored by the International Society of Gynecological Pathologists, held in Sendai, Japan in 1986. Several of the chapters are updates on subjects discussed at that meeting and in some cases are written by the original speakers. The subject range is broad. There are clinicopathological discussions of endometrial and cervical carcinomas and mixed mullerian tumors, endocrine and germ cell tumors of the ovary and trophoblastic disease. All these chapters provide a fairly comprehensive review of their subjects rather than restricting themselves to “recent progress’. In fact, some recent advances, such as cytogenetic studies of moles, are conspicuous by their absence. The chapter on cytology covers cervical smears (including the Bethesda system of reporting) and examination of peritoneal washings. New techniques, especially in the area of molecular biology, are described and presented with their clinical applications in the chapters on flow cytometry of ovarian neoplasms, human papillomavirus research and oncogenes. The latter chapters will satisfy the acronymomaniacs amongst us. Five of the 12 chapters are written by pathologists from the United States of America, well-known to Australian readers, who have made major contributions to the subjects they discuss in this book, e.g., Scully, Young, Talerman and Silverberg on endocrine and germ cell tumors of the ovary and mixed mullerian tumors. Many of the Japanese authors are gynecological oncologists trained also in histopathology and cytology. The reviewer found their chapters (cervical tumors and trophoblastic disease) less than satisfactory in their pathology coverage, being written in somewhat awkward and occasionally ambiguous English and being very sparsely illustrated. However they provide a wealrh of very useful clinical data from Japanese studies. Dallenbach-Hellweg, the
BOOK
the book concentrates upon airway epithelial injury i n asthma and is a thoughtful examination of the contribution of inflammation and the products of different populations of inflammatory leucocytes to the process. In addition, there are useful discussions of epithelial ion transport in cystic fibrosis and the possible involvement of pulmonary neuroendocrine cells in airway responses in disease. The final section is largely devoted to epithelium-derived inhibitory or relaxing factoi-(s) and its possible role in airway hyper-responsiveness. The existence of this mediator(s) remains to be conclusively established and much of the information i n these chapters is a description of experimental phenomena. Because the story has not yet matured to the point where it contributes much to an understanding of pathophysiology, the reader is left feeling somewhat dissatisfied. Thus, although these reviews are well-written and representative of the state of the art at the time of publicarion, it seems likely that progress in the field may render them obsolete more rapidly than the other chapters. This book does achieve its aim of focusing attention upon the cellular biology of airway epithelial cells and their interactions with other resident and recruited cell populations. I t is therefore a useful contribution io the field but its comparatively narrow focus means that its target audience is more restricted than that of many previous volumes in the series. Like those volumes, it remains altogether too expensiLe for purchase by an individual researcher, but would be worth recommending to the institutional library. R . Kirmur
Pubnonary Endocrine Pathology. J O H NR . COSNEYButterworthHeinemann Ltd, Oxford, London, Boston, Munich, New Delhi, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Wellington, 1992. ISBN 0-7506-1440-4, pp. 184, AUDS175.00. This quite small Lolume of 10 chapters and comprising 179 page, of text, gives an overview of the subject which is as up to date as possible in this type of presentation. The book is well planned and includes not only pathology, but also introductory chapters covering the anatomy, physiology and embryology of the pulmonary endocrine system as well as its relationship to the similar endocrine cells in the gut and other organs. The theme develops through reactions of the pulmonary endocrine system to disease and experimental injury, including the changes occurring in common lung diseases such as asthma, emphysema and inflammatory lung diseases as well as the effect of substances such as nicotine and the experimental production of pulmonary endocrine tumours in animals. The second half of the book will be of more interest to the practising pathologist, describing the detailed morphology and endocrine characteristics of carcinoids, atypical carcinoids, small cell carcinomas and its variants as well as the relationships and overlap of these tumor divisions. The presentation of these chapters is such as to give the reader a very clear overview of the subject and is a worthwhile read even lor those who are very familiar with the area. The final chapter which is concerned with the paraneoplastic effects of these tumors is a useful and conciw summary of the clinical features of these syndromes and again provides some understanding of the possible mechanisms involved. The material is very extensively referenced in the text, and each reference includes the names of the authors (usually all) as well as the year of publication. The book is an excellent exposition of the subject and should be of interest to all anatomical pathologists. B. Goodrnun
Histological Typing of Odontogenic Tuniuors. 2nd ed. I. R . H. K R . z \ ~ E RJ. . J. P I N D H O R C A N D M. SHEAR.Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Budapest, 1992. ISBN 0-387-54142-X, pp. x + 118, DM72, AUD$66.50. Odontogenic tumors are an admittedly rare and potentially confusing group of neoplasms which most pathologists see only occasionally. The 3 senior editors listed above were also involved in the first edition issued
217
by the World Health Organization in 1971, and i t is not surprising therefore that there are no radical changes in this edition. The editors and consultants are to be congratulated on having produced a clear and comprehensive statement of the present classification of odontogenic tumors and similar lesions. New entities included for the first time include the desmoplastic and papilliferous forms of ameloblastoma, clear cell odontogenic tumor, squamous odontogenic tumor and amongst the allied lesions, the paradental and glandular odontogenic cyst,. The expansion of the section on odontogenic cysts will be welcome, as specimens of dental cysts are received by many laboratories. Some miFconceptions such as the “fissural” globulo-maxillary cyst have been logically enough discarded. Changes in nomenclature include replacement of gigantiform cementoma by florid cemento-osseous dysplasia and the book gives clear guidance on favoured terminology. That the diagnosis of many of these cysts or tumors may depend upon the clinical and radiographic features considered together with the histological findings is appropriately emphasized. Irritatingly, odontomes still appear in the list of odontogenic tumors rather than grouped separately a5 malformations which seems to me very misleading. The quality of the photomicrographs, one of the strengths of the previous edition, remains outstanding. Although the text occasionally assumes the style of an ex cathedra pronouncement - e.g., the adenomatoid odontogenic tumor “is generally believed not to be a neoplasm”, in most cases there is little sitting on the fence and the book usually gives a clear summary of current thinking. Although this series of WHO publications are not intended to serve as textbooks, they are not a bad introduction either and most trainees would benefit from having read this, rather than plunging into larger texts. I f you have not seen (or recognized!) any of the above lesions since 1971 you will probably not need the updated version, but perhaps you could persuade the Hospital library or your trainees to buy it instead. M . Walker
Gynecological Tumors. Edited by N. SASANO. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, London, Paris, 1992. ISBN 0-387-52955-1, pp. xi + 378, DM275. This book is edited by Emeritus Professor N. Sasano of Tohoku University who conceived the book as a follow-up to a symposium “Recent Progress in Diagnostic Pathology of Gynecological Tumors” sponsored by the International Society of Gynecological Pathologists, held in Sendai, Japan in 1986. Several of the chapters are updates on subjects discussed at that meeting and in some cases are written by the original speakers. The subject range is broad. There are clinicopathological discussions of endometrial and cervical carcinomas and mixed mullerian tumors, endocrine and germ cell tumors of the ovary and trophoblastic disease. All these chapters provide a fairly comprehensive review of their subjects rather than restricting themselves to “recent progress’. In fact, some recent advances, such as cytogenetic studies of moles, are conspicuous by their absence. The chapter on cytology covers cervical smears (including the Bethesda system of reporting) and examination of peritoneal washings. New techniques, especially in the area of molecular biology, are described and presented with their clinical applications in the chapters on flow cytometry of ovarian neoplasms, human papillomavirus research and oncogenes. The latter chapters will satisfy the acronymomaniacs amongst us. Five of the 12 chapters are written by pathologists from the United States of America, well-known to Australian readers, who have made major contributions to the subjects they discuss in this book, e.g., Scully, Young, Talerman and Silverberg on endocrine and germ cell tumors of the ovary and mixed mullerian tumors. Many of the Japanese authors are gynecological oncologists trained also in histopathology and cytology. The reviewer found their chapters (cervical tumors and trophoblastic disease) less than satisfactory in their pathology coverage, being written in somewhat awkward and occasionally ambiguous English and being very sparsely illustrated. However they provide a wealrh of very useful clinical data from Japanese studies. Dallenbach-Hellweg, the