Volume 6 Issue 3 - Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine

Book reviews
comprehensive texts it is hard to approach differential
diagnoses in a logical, systematic way.
A small section at the end of the book is devoted to obstetric
and gynecologic emergencies and non-obstetric emergencies
peculiar to pregnancy. This also appealed to me as a very
logical presentation of possible problems in the emergency
setting.
My only real criticism of the book is that there appears to be
a mistake in the description of diagnosing zygosity in twin
pregnancies. It is essentially corrected on the next page
where the chorionicity and amnionicity are discussed,
however for people who find the correct classification of
twinning difficult already (and in my experience this applies
to many) this would only serve to confuse.
Apart from the minor criticism above, I found this a very
easy to read, appealing book. It is the sort of book you could
pick up in the odd spare minute and no doubt learn
something useful. I would highly recommend this to any
department where obstetric and gynaecologic ultrasound
is performed. I also think it would be very useful to anyone
studying for exams in ultrasound, eg student sonographers,
radiology registrars and obstetric sonologists, and all those
involved in teaching in obstetric and gynecologic
ultrasound.
Margo Gill
Sydney Ultrasound for Women
Title:
Case Review: General and Vascular
Ultrasound. Case review Series
Author:
William D Middleton
Publisher: Mosby
Published: 2002 ISBN 0-323-00736-8
This book contains clinical ultrasound case studies
covering the areas of vascular and general sonography.
There are three sections within the book and as their names
suggest “opening round”, “fair game” and “challenge” the
cases get progressively more difficult. This 242-page book
contains good quality duplex images, with appropriate
colour plates and spectral Doppler information to support
the black and white images. Usually 4 questions are posed
for each set of images with the answers to the questions
over the page. This format makes it easy to test your
knowledge and obtain quick feedback. There are 211
different case studies to access your knowledge; at least 57
of these are specifically vascular cases.
This book is an excellent resource for the student
sonographer as well as the tutor sonographer. It would be a
valuable asset in the bookcase of any sonographer.
Lucia Pemble PhD DMU (Vascular)
Lecturer in Medical Ultrasound
Queensland University of Technology
Title:
Author:
Publisher:
Approximate Price: $A218.00
An Atlas of Small Parts and
Musculoskeletal Ultrasound with
Color Flow Imaging, 2 nd Edition
PK Srivastava
Jaybee Brothers, Medical Publishers
(P) LTD, New Delhi Distributed
outside of South Asia by Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins.
The practice of ultrasound varies considerably from country
to country. The primary author of this text practices in
Lucknow, India and his case material indicates considerable
expertise in ultrasound particularly of body parts radiologists
rarely examine in Australia and New Zealand such as the
eye and the neck. Many cases of tuberculosis, cysticercosis
and hydatids are presented, for example hydatids of the
breast, cysticercosis of the eye and testicular tuberculosis.
As indicated in the title, the book is an atlas, containing over
2000 illustrations. Most are ultrasound images
complemented by some clinical photographs and the
occasional image from a CT or a diagram. Unfortunately the
image reproduction is not as good as has been achieved in
other texts. Many of the images are taken from equipment
that is a number of years old, which can be distracting but
does not need to detract from their usefulness as teaching
examples. Text is brief but to the point.
The book is divided into 12 chapters on the eye, thyroid,
neck, neonatal brain, chest, breast, gastrointestinal system,
prostate, scrotum, penis, anterior abdominal wall and the
musculoskeletal system. I found the chapters on the eye and
neck most interesting since these are regions we scan
infrequently in our practice. The range of examples of
pathology in the orbit is broad, including numerous
congenital abnormalities, tumours, periorbital masses,
trauma and infection.
The chapter on musculoskeletal imaging is disappointing
but this is partly because musculoskeletal ultrasound practice
is different in Australia, where accurate diagnosis of many
types and grades of sports injury using ultrasound has
become common practice and is highly developed.
The index is sparse and it might have been helpful to have
topic headings at the beginning of each chapter to find
specific cases more easily. For example cysticercosis does not
come under ‘c’ in the index but as a subheading under
‘parasites’.
Overall I found this a fascinating book to read. Although
not practically useful for most ultrasound sites in Australia
or New Zealand, it would be a great asset to a library, first as
a resource for examples of conditions rarely seen in those
countries and second to highlight how practice can vary
depending on the clinical context and availability of other
modalities. It would also be a useful text for anyone planning
to work in Asia or in a similar clinical context.
Patsy Robertson FRANZCR
Royal Melbourne Hospital
52 ASUM ULTRASOUND BULLETIN VOLUME 6 NUMBER 3 AUGUST 2003