Medical book reviews, education, and commentary.
[This post is an update of my review of a previous edition of Aids to Radiological Differential Diagnosis, which I reviewed elsewhere in 2012. And granted, I won’t pretend the have done the kind of leg-work I did back then when I wrote, “I’ve been reading and annotating this book for close to a month … Read more
Learning Radiology (2019) is an updated version of Learning Radiology (2011), which I reviewed elsewhere. Much like the previous editions, Learning Radiology (2019) uses a pattern recognition approach through which learners are taught how to recognize pertinent features of radiographic images. The images shown are generally very highly characteristic, and the captions help accentuate and … Read more
The formula for writing an exceptionally good radiology book is pretty straightforward: Well-organized chapters based on cardinal clinical scenarios Specific recommendations with regard to when and whom to image (or not to image!) Excellent images and annotations Primary Pediatric Radiology, by Susan Williamson, M.D., delivers on all of these points. It is a clinically oriented book, with … Read more
Chest x-ray interpretation is undoubtedly one of the most important technical skills in medicine (perhaps only fourth after history-taking, physical examination and electrocardiogram interpretations). The Chest X-Ray: A Survival Guide (2008) by Gerald de Lacey , Simon Morley and Laurence Berman is probably the best book about chest radiography in existence. There are several features that … Read more
The task of the medical image reader is, ultimately, to recognize images, that is to compare the image on a screen to one that is already etched into theradiologist’s consciousness. As the author notes: “‘Burned’ into the neurons of a radiologists brain are mental images of what a normal frontal chest radiograph looks like, what thoracic sarcoidosis … Read more
Choosing the wrong imaging study leads to unnecessary costs, complications, and side effects (no citation needed!). Yet many seasoned clinicians sometimes have trouble with knowing what imaging study to order. I think the author was correct in stating: “I wrote Symptom Based Radiology to help primary care providers make better use of radiology services. The … Read more
Brain CT Scans in Clinical Practice by Usiakimi Igbaseimokumo MD is concise, sharp, brilliantly written, practice changing, and full ofnumerous helpful clinical pearls. In places, the advice is extremely straightforward: blood clots or tumours in the brain deep to the pia mater are called intraaxial and those outside the pia are called extra axial. (P. 26-27) … Read more