Book Review.

Essentials of Radiology
Fred A. Mettler, Jr, MD
Philadelphia, Pa: W. B. Saunders & Co, 1996. ISBN 0-7216-6744-9. Paperback, $34.95;
pp 445; 535 figures; tables.

This new publication is a single-au- by applicability to clinicians in practice.

thoned, basic textbook on medical imag- Hence, the chapter on breast imaging is
ing for medical students and residents in only five pages, while the chapter on
fields other than radiology. It is meant to chest imaging contains more than 70
cover imaging fundamentals and specifi- pages. The depth of explanation in the
cally address radiologic questions that text is somewhat superficial in many sec-
clinicians frequently face in patient care. lions, as is to be expected in a general
Hence, the author has attempted to in- text such as this. For example, the text
dude normal images, common variants, dedicates only five short sentences to
routine day-to-day pathologic findings, Crohn disease. However, it partly makes
and rare but life-threatening abnormali- up for this by showing a beautifully clas-
ties. sic Crohn small-bowel contrast material-
The book contains 445 pages in nine enhanced examination. Likewise, the
chapters, with eight chapters pertaining lists of suggested further reading are not
to individual organ systems and one in- only brief, but they cite only secondary
troductory chapter on radiology physics texts, not the primary literature. The
and image production. It also contains quality of the radiographic images is ad-
535 radiologic images encompassing all mirable, and the images are documented
modalities, with strong emphasis on well with arrows and captions. The
plain radiography and computed tomog- tables of differential diagnoses and sys-
raphy. Each chapter covers normal stud- tematic approaches to particular studies
ies and common variants, followed by area helpful addition.
many common types of pathologic con- Overall this text is a good general text
ditions: congenital, trauma, neoplastic, for medical students and junior residents
infection, vascular, and so on. Many sec- in areas outside of radiology. Organ sys-
tions offer tables with systematic lists for tems, common and life-threatening con-
interpreting particular images (eg, chest ditions, and normal variants are covered
radiographs), or tables with differential quite well, and they are represented by
diagnoses for particular radiographic an excellent collection of images. The
findings (eg, pulmonary nodule). Each discussion and suggestions for further
chapter is followed by a short list of reading are somewhat limited but prob-
sources for further reading. ably appropriate for its intended audi-
After a brief overview of image pro- ence. The text represents a bargain at
duction and interpretation in chapter 1, $34.95 for the nonradiologist physician
eight chapters follow: head and neck, in training.
chest, breast, cardiac, gastrointestinal,
genitourinary, skeletal, and pediatric
imaging. The chapters are given weight Reviewed by Daniel D. MaId, BS

554 Radiology
#{149} May 1996