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Medical imaging techniques
BOOK
REVIEWS
“Biomedical Instrumentation and Measurements” (Second edition) by L. Cromwell, F. J. We&e!! and E. A. Pfeiffer, Prentice-Hall Inc., New Jersey, U.S.A., 1980, ISBN o-13-076448-5. 5lO+xvi pp. (214.25). Most physicians and surgeons, certainly those with day-to-day responsibility for treating patients, tend to drift into handling diagnostic and therapeutic gadgets, with a very patchy idea of the basic theory behind their design and construction. Doubtless this is why equipment is bought in such a haphazard way and so often never seems to work properly after its first repair. For such people this book is to be thoroughly recommended as a reference manual, explaining both the basic data to be measured and the machine assemblies to do the measuring. It is very comprehensive and covers cardiology, respiratory function, electroencephalography and electromyography, intensive-care monitoring, bio-telemetry, radiology and radio-isotopes, clinical laboratory equipment, and, to be thoroughly up-to-date, computer applications to instrumentation, including the use of microprocessors. Moreover, the first four chapters deal with general aspects of instrumentation, including the use of transducers and electrodes. So for anyone looking for a concise lucid account of a topic like cardiac pacemakers, EEG measurements or cofnputerised axial tomography, this is the answer. Undoubtedly there are some minor misprints, and the purist might be slightly irritated at some of the medical simplification which are obviously made with non-graduates (medical) in mind. But these are very minor quibbles. The price is admittedly rather daunting, so potential buyers will no doubt browse carefully before making up their minds. J. H. MITCHELL
Medical Imaging Techniques (Monograph No. 28), edited by B. W. Watson, Peter Peregrinus, London, 1979 (fl4.50 in the U.K., f 17.00 elsewhere), This is the latest volume in a series of monographs on Medical Electronics and consists of monographs 28-33 which are devoted to Medical Imaging Tech531 Int. J. Bio-M&al comprfing (11)(1980)531-532 @I Elsevier/Nortb-Holland Scientific Publishers Ltd.
532
BOOK REVIEWS
niques. All of the authors are active research workers in their own field and have produced authorative reviews of current knowledge accompanied by useful lists of references. References must always be a problem in a book of ‘this nature and very often they are out of date when the book is published. ‘This is not the case here, many being current at the time of publication. Also, in an appendix additional more recent references to the monograph on Electrostatic X-ray imaging are listed. Some readers may be critical of the editors choice of monographs, particularly his decision to omit any on the ‘currently popular computer-assisted tomography. However, no one can complain of lack of variety, with descriptions of well established techniques such as Radionuclide and Ultrasonic Imaging, the useful but lesser used Xeroradiography, the developing use of Doppler-effects for imaging the vascular system, and the exciting applications of nuclear magnetic resonance. There are over one hundred line drawings and photographs and the text and layout are very clear. The 233 pages, however, are only 216 X 136 mm and the price, U.K. $14.50 (elsewhere f17.00) may deter many people, which is a pity as it is an eminently readable book and should appeal to many people in a variety of disciplines. The book is published by Peter Peregrinus Ltd. on behalf of the Institution of Electrical Engineers under the editorship of B. W. Watson, Director of Medical Electronics Department, St. Bartholomews Hospital, London (U.K.). R.H.
WALMSLEY
REVIEWS
“Biomedical Instrumentation and Measurements” (Second edition) by L. Cromwell, F. J. We&e!! and E. A. Pfeiffer, Prentice-Hall Inc., New Jersey, U.S.A., 1980, ISBN o-13-076448-5. 5lO+xvi pp. (214.25). Most physicians and surgeons, certainly those with day-to-day responsibility for treating patients, tend to drift into handling diagnostic and therapeutic gadgets, with a very patchy idea of the basic theory behind their design and construction. Doubtless this is why equipment is bought in such a haphazard way and so often never seems to work properly after its first repair. For such people this book is to be thoroughly recommended as a reference manual, explaining both the basic data to be measured and the machine assemblies to do the measuring. It is very comprehensive and covers cardiology, respiratory function, electroencephalography and electromyography, intensive-care monitoring, bio-telemetry, radiology and radio-isotopes, clinical laboratory equipment, and, to be thoroughly up-to-date, computer applications to instrumentation, including the use of microprocessors. Moreover, the first four chapters deal with general aspects of instrumentation, including the use of transducers and electrodes. So for anyone looking for a concise lucid account of a topic like cardiac pacemakers, EEG measurements or cofnputerised axial tomography, this is the answer. Undoubtedly there are some minor misprints, and the purist might be slightly irritated at some of the medical simplification which are obviously made with non-graduates (medical) in mind. But these are very minor quibbles. The price is admittedly rather daunting, so potential buyers will no doubt browse carefully before making up their minds. J. H. MITCHELL
Medical Imaging Techniques (Monograph No. 28), edited by B. W. Watson, Peter Peregrinus, London, 1979 (fl4.50 in the U.K., f 17.00 elsewhere), This is the latest volume in a series of monographs on Medical Electronics and consists of monographs 28-33 which are devoted to Medical Imaging Tech531 Int. J. Bio-M&al comprfing (11)(1980)531-532 @I Elsevier/Nortb-Holland Scientific Publishers Ltd.
532
BOOK REVIEWS
niques. All of the authors are active research workers in their own field and have produced authorative reviews of current knowledge accompanied by useful lists of references. References must always be a problem in a book of ‘this nature and very often they are out of date when the book is published. ‘This is not the case here, many being current at the time of publication. Also, in an appendix additional more recent references to the monograph on Electrostatic X-ray imaging are listed. Some readers may be critical of the editors choice of monographs, particularly his decision to omit any on the ‘currently popular computer-assisted tomography. However, no one can complain of lack of variety, with descriptions of well established techniques such as Radionuclide and Ultrasonic Imaging, the useful but lesser used Xeroradiography, the developing use of Doppler-effects for imaging the vascular system, and the exciting applications of nuclear magnetic resonance. There are over one hundred line drawings and photographs and the text and layout are very clear. The 233 pages, however, are only 216 X 136 mm and the price, U.K. $14.50 (elsewhere f17.00) may deter many people, which is a pity as it is an eminently readable book and should appeal to many people in a variety of disciplines. The book is published by Peter Peregrinus Ltd. on behalf of the Institution of Electrical Engineers under the editorship of B. W. Watson, Director of Medical Electronics Department, St. Bartholomews Hospital, London (U.K.). R.H.
WALMSLEY