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Ocular therapeutics and pharmacology
TIPS - April 1986
160
Clinical use of drugs in ophthalmology Ocular Therapeutics and Pharmacology Philip P. Ellis, The C.V. Mosby Company, 1985, £43.50 x + 362 pages, ISBN 0 8016 1647 6
In pharmacology and pharmacotherapy the drugs used in ophthalmological disorders are studied b y relatively few basic scientists and clinicians, although this field is interesting from the theoretical point of view and in m a n y ways clinically relevant. For this reason it appears most useful that one of the few monographies on this subject has been issued in an updated and m o d e m version (7th edition), 'Ocular therapeutics and pharmacology' has been appreciated as a standard book on the pharmacotherapy of ocular disorders since many years. Its ap-
proach is much more a clinical than a pharmacological one. After a few chapters on several principles, the main part of the book is devoted to all relevant ocular diseases where drug treatment plays a role. This part of the book offers a well written and m o d e m state of the art review on drug treatment in ophthalmology. Particular attention is rightly p a i d to the various ocular infections and to glaucoma. The clinical section goes into much detail and even comprises a short chapter on the various products used adjuvants etc. b y bearers of contact lenses. The subsequent section of the book gives an enumeration of all groups of drugs somehow involved in ocular pharmacotherapy. This secton is certainly useful to clinicians, including the nonophthalmologists. To the p h a r m a cologist this mere enumeration of drugs has little to offer. Little information is given on mechan-
isms of drug action and receptors. One would, for instance, have liked to read a m o d e m discussion on the question whether ~1- and/or ~2-adrenoceptors are involved in the treatment of glaucoma with ~blockers. It should be repeated, however, that the emphasis in the book is laid u p o n the clinical use of drugs in ophthalmology and this p u r p o s e has been largely fulfilled. It is not surprising that the choice of drugs is clearly the one which is current in the US, European priorities and preparations sometimes being a little different. As a whole, the book is a useful and fairly complete treatise on the clinical use of drugs in ophthalmology, without m a n y pharmacological pretentions. P. A. V A N Z W I E T E N
Dept. of Pharmacotherapy, University of Amsterdam, Plantage Muidergracht 24, 1018 TV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
160
Clinical use of drugs in ophthalmology Ocular Therapeutics and Pharmacology Philip P. Ellis, The C.V. Mosby Company, 1985, £43.50 x + 362 pages, ISBN 0 8016 1647 6
In pharmacology and pharmacotherapy the drugs used in ophthalmological disorders are studied b y relatively few basic scientists and clinicians, although this field is interesting from the theoretical point of view and in m a n y ways clinically relevant. For this reason it appears most useful that one of the few monographies on this subject has been issued in an updated and m o d e m version (7th edition), 'Ocular therapeutics and pharmacology' has been appreciated as a standard book on the pharmacotherapy of ocular disorders since many years. Its ap-
proach is much more a clinical than a pharmacological one. After a few chapters on several principles, the main part of the book is devoted to all relevant ocular diseases where drug treatment plays a role. This part of the book offers a well written and m o d e m state of the art review on drug treatment in ophthalmology. Particular attention is rightly p a i d to the various ocular infections and to glaucoma. The clinical section goes into much detail and even comprises a short chapter on the various products used adjuvants etc. b y bearers of contact lenses. The subsequent section of the book gives an enumeration of all groups of drugs somehow involved in ocular pharmacotherapy. This secton is certainly useful to clinicians, including the nonophthalmologists. To the p h a r m a cologist this mere enumeration of drugs has little to offer. Little information is given on mechan-
isms of drug action and receptors. One would, for instance, have liked to read a m o d e m discussion on the question whether ~1- and/or ~2-adrenoceptors are involved in the treatment of glaucoma with ~blockers. It should be repeated, however, that the emphasis in the book is laid u p o n the clinical use of drugs in ophthalmology and this p u r p o s e has been largely fulfilled. It is not surprising that the choice of drugs is clearly the one which is current in the US, European priorities and preparations sometimes being a little different. As a whole, the book is a useful and fairly complete treatise on the clinical use of drugs in ophthalmology, without m a n y pharmacological pretentions. P. A. V A N Z W I E T E N
Dept. of Pharmacotherapy, University of Amsterdam, Plantage Muidergracht 24, 1018 TV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.