Book reviews

Atlas of Sectional Anatomy. Head, Neck and Trunk

Ph. McGrath and P. Mills. 330 x 315 mm. Pp. 238. Illustrated. 1984. Basel: Karger. LISS49.25:

This Atlas comprises nearly one hundred labelled sections, of which rather more than half are of the head and neck. Two-thirds of the illustrations are of horizontal sections and all but ten of the balance are sagittal views. The format is standard; on the right side of a double-page spread is a black and white photograph of a section and on the left hand page are a series of notes, a list of the structures labelled and information and details about the position of the section and the printed image. The sections are numbered, but each one is given a title which describes what the authors believe are the structures which are best shown, or most usefully displayed, on that image. The sections are a balanced collection, and the views are sensible and pragmatic ones.

The quality of the photographs is generally good, but some of the prints of the coronal head and neck, and sagittal abdominal, sections are too dark and detail is lost. The labels are reliable, but the type face used for them is small, and one’s eyes are soon wearied of looking at, and concentrating on, such small type. The lead lines are sufficiently close together on some sections that one has to use a finger to reliably connect the label to the structure. The authors have taken the trouble to compile an intelligently constructed and therefore useful index.

In the preface, the authors explain the reasons why they have not included ‘close-match’ scanning photographs. The first is their belief that matching scans will usually be available; I doubt that this will always be the case. The second is their wish that the book should not be just an atlas, but also be a means whereby sectional anatomy is presented to ‘facilitate the understanding and consolidation of anatomical fact and concept’ and ‘contribute to the subject of gross anatomy and to its clinical application’. If they are serious in wishing to do the former, I believe they have failed. The notes are mainly about topographical details and dwell rarely, if at all, on function. I saw little, if any, reference to how anatomical concepts can help in the understanding of topographical relationships. None the less, I believe that this atlas does make a contribution to gross anatomy, and its clinical application, merely by being a thoroughly good sectional atlas.

It should be in the reference collection of every anatomy department and good radiology and surgery departments should consider it for their postgraduate library. If I were allowed to take not one, but two, books to my desert island, I would take McGrath and Mill’s atlas (along with Gray) so that when I was rescued, I would return a more knowledgeable topographical anatomist than before my metaphorical shipwreck.

B. A. Wood

Wound Healing for Surgeons

limothy E. Bucknall and Harold Ellis. 240 x 160mm. Pp. 344+ i x . Illustrated. 1984. Eastbourne: Bailliere nndall, Holt Saunders Ltd. €19.75. This book is well written and produced and the two editors have managed to produce a unified account despite contributions from different authors. The subject is addressed in a clinically relevant fashion and is directed to the practising surgeon rather than the researcher in wound healing. Some of the chapters are excellent and authoritative i.e. The Healing Wound, Wound Strength, Sutures and Dressings, The Abdominal Wall, Clinical Trials, Bone and Joints, Trauma. Others range from adequate to indifferent but this is inevitable in a multi- authorship book. The final chapter of the book written by T. K. Hunt is a well balanced broad overview of the way ahead in light of existing unsolved problems. It is written with great maturity and reflects a wealth of experience in the field. Overall this book constitutes a good buy and I personally would recommend it to surgeons irrespective of their speciality and stage of training.

A. Cuschieri

Gastrointestinal Surgery. Volumes 1 and 2 David Fromm. 260 x 210mm. Pp. Volume I : 1-473 + xiv + 21. Volume 2: 475-933+xiv+21. Illustrated in black and white and colour. 1985. Edinburgh: Churchill Liuingstone. f 135.00.

The task of preparing a book combining an operative manual and a classical text book is difficult. On the one hand there is the risk of including so much operative detail that important aspects of epidemiology and management are omitted; on the other hand merely including an outline of technique would convert the book into yet another text book of gastroenterology. A nice balance has been struck in this publication. The need for such a work was recognized and the editor’s aim was ‘to provide a practical reference that encompasses many principles important to gastrointestinal surgery! This aim has been well achieved.

Thecontributorscomein the main from the Upstate Medical Centre, New York with some notable additions such as Dr W. Silen and Professor L. H. Blumgart. The spectrum covered is wide from Appendicitis to Surgery for Obesity and from Piles to Bile Duct Strictures. Perhaps a separate chapter on Management of Fistulae might have been included although it must be admitted that there is much material on this topic scattered throughout the book.

The standard of production is very high as we have come to expect from the publishers. The diagrams are beautifully clear and contain the optimum amount of information. Perhaps one or two photographs might have been better in colour than in black and white. The text is eminently readable.

These volumes would adorn the bookshelf of any general surgeon, if the breed is not already extinct, and of course of any gastroenterological surgeon. To my mind they would make him or her not only a better technician but a better clinician and teacher as well.

C. MacKay

Principles and Practice of Surgery

A . P . M . Forrest, D. C. Carter and 1. B. Macleod. 245 x 190mm. Pp. 672 + i x . Illustrated. 1985. Edinburgh: Churchill Liuingstone. f l 7 .50 .

Intended primarily for undergraduates this major new textbook of surgery IS designed as a companion to Davidson’s Principles and Practice of Medicine. The result is the production of a comprehensive, up-to-date, conventional textbook: upto-date in that it presents surgery in a modern, contemporary manner and conventional in that it is disease-based not problem orientated. It is, of course, the case that patients present with problems and symptom complexes not diseases, and that in general undergraduate examination questions these days are problem orientated; none the less students need a textbook of this type, to provide a sound basis of knowledge and for reference purposes. The major portion of the text consists of a description of surgical conditions system by system, and this is preceded by an extensive section devoted to surgical problems in general, such as shock, postoperative care, infection etc. Most of the text is written by the three principle authors, but in the systematic section they have enlisted the help of ten other authors. Despite this the style and manner of presentation is uniform, and the book is printed in notably clear type.

The systematic chapters cover not only those systems conventionally considered as constituting the corpus of general surgery, but in addition there are excellent chapters on thoracic and cardiac surgery, urology, transplantation and neurosurgery, the only specialties not included being orthopaedics, ophthalmology and otolaryngology, this breadth of cover being an admirable feature of the book. Starting with a brief, informative review of the relevant surgical anatomy and physiology,

848 Br. J . Surg., Vol. 72, No. 10, October 1985