Product Details

Richard M. Gore

This is a brief, introductory survey of the most common disorders affecting the alimentary tract and solid abdominal viscera. The major imaging techniques such as barium studies, CT, ultrasound, MRI, and endoscopic retrograde cholangiography are discussed as they relate to the demonstration of abdominal pathology. The purpose is to present the core material, ""the requisites"" of gastrointestinal radiology and abdominal imaging in a succinct and user-friendly way. "" This book most successfully targets the beginning radiology resident. Senior residents and practicing radiologists may find it useful as a brief review of the subject. The book is divided into seven chapters: esophagus and gastroesophageal junction, stomach and duodenum, small bowel, pancreas, liver and spleen, biliary system and gallbladder, colon and rectum. Each chapter begins with a brief overview of examination techniques, their indications, and their relative values. The authors then discuss major radiologic patterns such as cystic pancreatic masses, solitary colonic filling defects, and esophageal narrowing. This problem-oriented approach is a major strength of th e book: the reader encounters gastrointestinal diseases the way they are found in clinical practice. The appropriate test is performed yielding radiographic findings, the differential diagnoses of which are narrowed by clinical context. The authors are to be congratulated for distilling the requisites of an enormous and complex field into a readable, practical, and affordable book. Beginning radiology residents would do well to begin their study of gastrointestinal radiology with this book.

Reviewer: Bennie A. Skinner, MD (Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University)
Description: The first edition of this book was published in 1993. It covers gastrointestinal imaging of organs along the alimentary tract and of the digestive system. The findings seen in barium studies and other imaging modalities are featured nearly equally where appropriate. Useful boxes and tables containing major summary points about differential diagnoses or disease processes are also included.
Purpose: The authors state that they write this book in the fashion of The Requisites, and they hope it makes gastrointestinal and abdominal imaging more interesting with the addition of their experiences and personal insights. The purpose of the first edition was "to develop a problem-oriented approach to radiology and to attempt to present radiological problem solving in an organized, prioritized fashion." The second edition is an updated and improved version with the same approach. In my opinion, this is an excellent approach to a patient's medical problem and imaging findings. It helps radiologists think rationally and logically in their approach to findings on films and to make their own correlation with the patients' disease in order to best serve the patient and the referring clinician. The book meets the authors' stated purpose quite well. They do not propose that this is a tome of all possible diseases that may occur in the gastrointestinal tract, but but that it simply covers the disease processes encountered in everyday practice in an easy-to-follow, logical fashion based on pattern recognition and subsequent categorization and differential diagnosis.
Audience: The authors target this book at anyone interested in gastrointestinal or abdominal imaging, but seem particularly gratified by the warm reception by radiology residents. They also feel that this book will prove manageable for all levels of radiologists from residents on the first rotation to practicing attendings. Having recently passed board examinations, I found this book acceptable for all levels and its practical and logical presentation of disease makes for excellent review or first time learning depending on the reader's sophistication. The authors are gastrointestinal radiologists of good stature and relatively strong in their field.
Features: The digestive system is covered from mouth to anus and all organs in between in concise, easy-to-read chapters. The best part about this book is the approach to subject matter. The chapters are broken down into organ systems of the digestive tract, and each begins with an explanation of how to perform the examination of the area of interest. Then the various findings seen on examination are covered:how to describe and interpret them with a differential diagnosis, with the most common causes listed first. There is a brief and pointed discussion of the diagnosis mentioned. If there is no time to read the text, small boxes of information are provided for a differential diagnosis under each finding. For example, in the chapter on the stomach and duodenum there is a box of the ten most common causes of contracted or narrowed stomach. The image quality is very good with arrows accurately and unobtrusively pointing out the appropriate findings on the studies. There is also a good mix of barium work and cross-sectional imaging. I think the image quality of this book is excellent and the captions are nicely done to allow readers who are in a hurry to absorb the information rapidly and then follow to the appropriate box for a differential diagnosis. More advanced readers may find the book lacking in statistics or more detailed facts about more obscure diseases. Also, there is no lengthy discussion about each disease process, but this book is easy to carry on call and may provide the clues to making a correct diagnosis in a pinch. For more focused reading on any particular process readers will need to refer to a larger text such as the one by Dr. Gore. The references in the back of some chapters seem a little dated but that may be easily remedied with a trip to Medline via the Internet.
Assessment: This book was written to improve upon the first edition, and it clearly does. I used the first edition in preparation for the boards and found revised sections in this version to be an improvement. I do not think it is meant to supplant reading major texts in the field of gastrointestinal radiology and abdominal imaging. I feel the text is best used to distill important facts so that a quick reference can be made for more advanced readers, and to allow the ground work to be placed for the first year resident to understand the larger texts better. This approach allows the junior resident to remember more facts in a logical and orderly manner.

Rating

3 Stars from Doody

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents