- Email: [email protected]
Reviews in plastic surgery: General plastic and reconstructive surgery
Book Reviews Reviews in Plastic Surgery: General Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Edited by MAGDY N. SAAD, FRCS, and PETER LICHTVELD, MD. Pp. 486. 1914. Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica. DFL 17500, US $67.50. This is the first of a series of volumes Reviews in Plastic Surgery in which experts have been invited to write chapters on topics which are either difficult or controversial and in which they are particularly well qualified to write by virtue of their own contributions to the subject. The authors were given a free hand in the size of the chapters and the number of illustrations. This probably accounts not only for the astonishing variations in length and style of the reviews but unfortunately in the quality of some of the contributions. One feels that the editors might have been a little bolder with their pencils and scissors. Of the 13 contributors, 4 are from Europe, 1 from Argentina and the remainder from the United States. Some of the papers are extremely detailed, that on palatopharyngeal incompetence being of incredible length. Some are based on extensive personal experience, such as Bakamjian’s paper on flaps in the surgery of cancer of the head and neck or Millard’s contribution on aesthetic rhinoplasty. However, one is constantly left with a feeling of dt;jd vu, for much of the text and many of the illustrations have already been published elsewhere at least once! The chapters that might interest the readers of this journal are Stranc’s on ‘ Nasoethmoid injuries ‘, a short but rather scrappy paper by Ryan and Buren on ’ Wound healing ’ and a contribution by Leguit from Amsterdam on ‘ Histo-incompatibility, skin homografts and burns ‘, which again is a little disappointing. The whole volume is beautifully produced but its cost is likely to limit its sale to medical libraries in specialist units, at least on this side of the Atlantic. M. N. TEMPEST
73 the word and the whole production is a credit to the authors, the publishers and not least the two translators. The case for the selected use of this technique of stable internal fixation is proven. Its possible combination with recent developments in microvascular surgery and the immediate direct transfer of pedicle flaps using microvascular anastomosis is only one of the exciting implications of this technique of surgery in the management of trauma. The price of the book is perfectly reasonable and this operative surgical manual ought to be on the shelves of every major accident unit. M. N. TEMPEST
Medical Aid at Accidents. By ROGER SNOOK, M.D., Accident Medical Officer to Bath Fire Brigade and Ambulance Service: Senior Casualty Officer, Royal United Hospital, Bath. 11 x 83 in. Pp. 136, with 235 1974. London: Update Publications illustrations. Ltd. 56.00. This is a quite remarkable book which sets a completely new pattern of instruction for all those who are called upon to provide medical aid at accidents, whether they be hospital doctors, general practitioners, ambulancemen, firemen or policemen. For the first time, between the covers of one volume, the reader can see something of the decisive actions that so many people must take calmly and efficiently at the scene of an accident when it is so easy for the individual’s burning desire to ‘do something’ to compound the general confusion. There is no trace here of the rather condescending style of the first aid manual or its time-honoured and somewhat out-of-date illustrations. This book is written with a refreshing enthusiasm that clearly reflects the personal experience of the author and, Small Fragment Set Manual: Technique recommended perhaps more important, indicates the tremendous care by the ASIF-group. By U. HEIM and K. M. PFEIFFER. that must be taken in the choice of equipment and its University of Base1 Medical School. Translated by deployment at the scene of an accident. R. Kirschbaum and R. L. Batten. Pp. 300 with 157 The illustrations, many of them in colour, give figures and 414 illustrations. 1974. Berlin, Heidelberg, that touch of reality which cannot be conveyed by any New York: Springer-Verlag. DM 132, US $53.90. number of ‘ disaster exercises’ and highlight the This is a quite remarkable book which should serve enormous physical difficulties that may be encounas a model for all authors and publishers of the way tered by the rescue services in extricating the victims irl which new surgical work and techniques can be of accidents before they can be transported to hospital presented. by ambulance. The drawings, which describe some of It describes the small fragment set the details of resuscitation, are models of clarity: the specially designed by the Swiss Association for Internal Fixation for use in the management of peritables and graphs, some in colour, drive home their pheral fractures and injuries to the smaller bones of message by their very simplicity and directness. The text is refreshingly free from padding and conthe body. The experience of the authors with this tains a wealth of information not readily available in technique is already considerable and this gives the volume the stamp of authority which can only be one single volume. The various appendices and the awarded after the purely experimental stage of surgery index are carefully laid out to give an invaluable source of information and quick cross-reference. has been passed. Although nearly half the book is devoted to road The illustrations, drawings, radiographs and photographic reproduction are quite ou&anding. All are accidents, chapters are allotted to agricultural acciclearly labelled and indeed the legends to each illusdents, aircraft crashes, river and sea search and tration are a mine of information% themselves. The rescue, mountain, cave and mine rescue, hospital writing is clear, succinct, didactic in the best sense of fires, analgesia, and the training of rescue teams.
73 the word and the whole production is a credit to the authors, the publishers and not least the two translators. The case for the selected use of this technique of stable internal fixation is proven. Its possible combination with recent developments in microvascular surgery and the immediate direct transfer of pedicle flaps using microvascular anastomosis is only one of the exciting implications of this technique of surgery in the management of trauma. The price of the book is perfectly reasonable and this operative surgical manual ought to be on the shelves of every major accident unit. M. N. TEMPEST
Medical Aid at Accidents. By ROGER SNOOK, M.D., Accident Medical Officer to Bath Fire Brigade and Ambulance Service: Senior Casualty Officer, Royal United Hospital, Bath. 11 x 83 in. Pp. 136, with 235 1974. London: Update Publications illustrations. Ltd. 56.00. This is a quite remarkable book which sets a completely new pattern of instruction for all those who are called upon to provide medical aid at accidents, whether they be hospital doctors, general practitioners, ambulancemen, firemen or policemen. For the first time, between the covers of one volume, the reader can see something of the decisive actions that so many people must take calmly and efficiently at the scene of an accident when it is so easy for the individual’s burning desire to ‘do something’ to compound the general confusion. There is no trace here of the rather condescending style of the first aid manual or its time-honoured and somewhat out-of-date illustrations. This book is written with a refreshing enthusiasm that clearly reflects the personal experience of the author and, Small Fragment Set Manual: Technique recommended perhaps more important, indicates the tremendous care by the ASIF-group. By U. HEIM and K. M. PFEIFFER. that must be taken in the choice of equipment and its University of Base1 Medical School. Translated by deployment at the scene of an accident. R. Kirschbaum and R. L. Batten. Pp. 300 with 157 The illustrations, many of them in colour, give figures and 414 illustrations. 1974. Berlin, Heidelberg, that touch of reality which cannot be conveyed by any New York: Springer-Verlag. DM 132, US $53.90. number of ‘ disaster exercises’ and highlight the This is a quite remarkable book which should serve enormous physical difficulties that may be encounas a model for all authors and publishers of the way tered by the rescue services in extricating the victims irl which new surgical work and techniques can be of accidents before they can be transported to hospital presented. by ambulance. The drawings, which describe some of It describes the small fragment set the details of resuscitation, are models of clarity: the specially designed by the Swiss Association for Internal Fixation for use in the management of peritables and graphs, some in colour, drive home their pheral fractures and injuries to the smaller bones of message by their very simplicity and directness. The text is refreshingly free from padding and conthe body. The experience of the authors with this tains a wealth of information not readily available in technique is already considerable and this gives the volume the stamp of authority which can only be one single volume. The various appendices and the awarded after the purely experimental stage of surgery index are carefully laid out to give an invaluable source of information and quick cross-reference. has been passed. Although nearly half the book is devoted to road The illustrations, drawings, radiographs and photographic reproduction are quite ou&anding. All are accidents, chapters are allotted to agricultural acciclearly labelled and indeed the legends to each illusdents, aircraft crashes, river and sea search and tration are a mine of information% themselves. The rescue, mountain, cave and mine rescue, hospital writing is clear, succinct, didactic in the best sense of fires, analgesia, and the training of rescue teams.