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Injuries to the major branches of peripheral nerves of the forearm
250
Injury:
the British
Journal
of Accident
Surgery
Vol. ~/NO. 3
Book Reviews 1975 Year Book of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Edited by F. J. MCCOY, MD. 9x4: in. Pp. 351. 1975. Chicago, Year Book (London, Lloyd-Luke). fl3.75 The Year Book series, now celebrating its 75th Anniversary, is a colossal publishing enterprise responsible for 21 separate volumes each year with the declared aim of ‘making available in detailed abstract form the essence of the best of the recent international medical literature’. Such an exercise is obviously profitable for the publisher, but what is its value to the reader? This volume, on plastic and reconstructive surgery, is a typical example of the Year Book ‘mix’ and is no better and no worse than its predecessors, with exactly the same virtues and vices. It contains abstracts of some 264 articles taken from 57 journals, two-thirds of which are North American. The 5 internationally established plastic surgery journals account for 50 per cent of the abstracts. Yet despite the impressive list of specialist source material, one could have wished for a more truthful interpretation of the ‘international coverage’ claimed by the publishers. Although the Editors state that the material covered in this 1975 volume represents literature reviewed up to July, 1974, most of work referred to in the text was published in 1973, and is therefore really representative of work done in the early 1970s. The specialist plastic surgeon will certainly find in this book much to interest him (an article that he has overlooked or an illustration which he had forgotten), enough to irritate him (the inclusion of material which has nothing whatever to do with the subject) and several items to infuriate him. Your reviewer would include amongst these the verbosity of some of the abstracts, the very uneven literary style of the volume and the pointless comments made by some of the Associate Editors at the end of several of the abstracted articles. Our colleagues in other specialties may find it interesting- to skio. through the volume and see what some of us are up to. As f&- readers of Injury, there is little interest in this particular Year Book. We will try to keep them better informed in our own abstract columns and at a somewhat cheaper price! M. N. TEMPEST
Injuries to the Major Branches of Peripheral Nerves of the Forearm. By M. SPINNER, MD, Associate Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York. 10 x 7 in. Pp. 151, with 63 illustrations. 1972. Philadelphia, W. B. Saunders. f5.35. This is a specialized, but thoughtful and useful, monograph in support of prompt primary nerve repair. There are helpful historical reviews of nerve injury and repair and of modern techniques using aids to ocular magnification which encourage optimal results and are still being developed. The author believes that success is best achieved through accuracy of funicular alignment, repair with the finest atraumatic suture, the use of minimal tension, and achievement of minimal scarring. His best results in his 15-year study were obtained in patients under 20 years of age. The recognition of characteristic pathological attitudes of the hand aids ideal treatment, which is the prompt primary repair of the affected nerve branches, and which avoid problems associated with secondary repair and the not very satisfactory expedient of primary tendon transfers. The book is well written and well arranged. On the three main nerves, each section opens with a description of the anatomy; its significant variations and clinical applications are then described and followed by an account of the operative approach to the nerve. A brief summary concludes the book. A pleasant insertion is a section devoted to E. B. Kaplan’s translation of Tinel’s paper on his signe du ‘ fourmillement ‘. Tinel’s views on the relationship of his sign to pain are interesting, and a critique of this modest man’s simple classic would have been a useful addition to the section. There are 63 photographs and drawings of considerable quality, and a good bibliography of 250 references. A small personal objection -is that the unnecessary inclusion of names already in the sectional reference lists makes the index appear more comprehensive than it is. JOHN POTTER
Injury:
the British
Journal
of Accident
Surgery
Vol. ~/NO. 3
Book Reviews 1975 Year Book of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Edited by F. J. MCCOY, MD. 9x4: in. Pp. 351. 1975. Chicago, Year Book (London, Lloyd-Luke). fl3.75 The Year Book series, now celebrating its 75th Anniversary, is a colossal publishing enterprise responsible for 21 separate volumes each year with the declared aim of ‘making available in detailed abstract form the essence of the best of the recent international medical literature’. Such an exercise is obviously profitable for the publisher, but what is its value to the reader? This volume, on plastic and reconstructive surgery, is a typical example of the Year Book ‘mix’ and is no better and no worse than its predecessors, with exactly the same virtues and vices. It contains abstracts of some 264 articles taken from 57 journals, two-thirds of which are North American. The 5 internationally established plastic surgery journals account for 50 per cent of the abstracts. Yet despite the impressive list of specialist source material, one could have wished for a more truthful interpretation of the ‘international coverage’ claimed by the publishers. Although the Editors state that the material covered in this 1975 volume represents literature reviewed up to July, 1974, most of work referred to in the text was published in 1973, and is therefore really representative of work done in the early 1970s. The specialist plastic surgeon will certainly find in this book much to interest him (an article that he has overlooked or an illustration which he had forgotten), enough to irritate him (the inclusion of material which has nothing whatever to do with the subject) and several items to infuriate him. Your reviewer would include amongst these the verbosity of some of the abstracts, the very uneven literary style of the volume and the pointless comments made by some of the Associate Editors at the end of several of the abstracted articles. Our colleagues in other specialties may find it interesting- to skio. through the volume and see what some of us are up to. As f&- readers of Injury, there is little interest in this particular Year Book. We will try to keep them better informed in our own abstract columns and at a somewhat cheaper price! M. N. TEMPEST
Injuries to the Major Branches of Peripheral Nerves of the Forearm. By M. SPINNER, MD, Associate Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York. 10 x 7 in. Pp. 151, with 63 illustrations. 1972. Philadelphia, W. B. Saunders. f5.35. This is a specialized, but thoughtful and useful, monograph in support of prompt primary nerve repair. There are helpful historical reviews of nerve injury and repair and of modern techniques using aids to ocular magnification which encourage optimal results and are still being developed. The author believes that success is best achieved through accuracy of funicular alignment, repair with the finest atraumatic suture, the use of minimal tension, and achievement of minimal scarring. His best results in his 15-year study were obtained in patients under 20 years of age. The recognition of characteristic pathological attitudes of the hand aids ideal treatment, which is the prompt primary repair of the affected nerve branches, and which avoid problems associated with secondary repair and the not very satisfactory expedient of primary tendon transfers. The book is well written and well arranged. On the three main nerves, each section opens with a description of the anatomy; its significant variations and clinical applications are then described and followed by an account of the operative approach to the nerve. A brief summary concludes the book. A pleasant insertion is a section devoted to E. B. Kaplan’s translation of Tinel’s paper on his signe du ‘ fourmillement ‘. Tinel’s views on the relationship of his sign to pain are interesting, and a critique of this modest man’s simple classic would have been a useful addition to the section. There are 63 photographs and drawings of considerable quality, and a good bibliography of 250 references. A small personal objection -is that the unnecessary inclusion of names already in the sectional reference lists makes the index appear more comprehensive than it is. JOHN POTTER