VOL.

57, No. 684

Book reviews
Practical Pediatric Imaging. Diagnostic Radiology of Infants &
Children. By D. R. Kirks, pp. 811, 1984 (Little, Brown & Co.,
Boston/Toronto), $95.00.
ISBN 0-316-49471-2
It is now several years since the last edition of Caffey's
Pediatric X-ray Diagnosis appeared. Any new book will
inevitably be compared with this work, which by 1978 had
acquired multiple authors and a somewhat tired appearance.
Imaging techniques are developing rapidly and their introduction to paediatrics, which is so frequently slower than into
adult investigations, has now been well established.
This is an excellent book, and having only one author,
shows a refreshing consistency of style. As its title indicates,
the practical aspects of paediatric imaging are considered in
some detail, ranging, for instance, from catheterisation
techniques to departmental organisation. The chapters which
are based on organ systems are introduced by consideration of
normal radiographic appearances and their variants and the
place of each imaging modality. Individual disease processes
are well illustrated, with adequate clinical and pathological
information. Although rarities are mentioned often only in
extensive tabulations, this is only to be expected in a singlevolume text and general coverage is more than adequate.
Good selected references allow for further reading.
The illustrations are clear and there are useful line diagrams.
It is refreshing to see ultrasound, nuclear medicine and
computed tomography reasonably integrated into conventional
radiography.

Atlas of Human Cross-Sectional Anatomy. By Donald R. Cahill

and Matthew J. Orland, pp. ix +135, 1984 (Lea & Febiger,
Philadelphia), $32.50.
ISBN 0-8121-0890-6
The anatomical cross sections in this atlas are displayed in
two forms on a single page. One is a photograph of the
undissected section (usually in the frozen state) and the other a
detailed labelled diagram. A unique feature is that on adjacent
pages each section is viewed from both above and below,
making 120 sections in all.
This format might well be useful for diagnostic radiologists,
but for radiotherapists who use an atlas primarily for
treatment planning, a CT scan would be more useful than the
photograph. Likewise, the radiotherapist needs more detail of
the relation of parts to surface anatomy, less detail of soft
tissue anatomy and a much larger scale.
I have yet to find an atlas to match the Johnson Symington
Atlas (second edition) 1917 with 'life' size sections mounted on
stiffened paper.
THELMA D. BATES

Atlas of Signs in Radiology. By R. L. Eisenberg, pp. xvi + 486,

1984 (Harpel & Row Ltd), 42.00.
ISBN 0-397-50592-2
Professor Eisenberg has collected almost 500 radiological
"signs" and presented them to the reader with a request that if
your favourite sign is not included to write to him and it may
make the next edition: For surely there must be another
edition of this book. If you are by nature "a one-upman
radiologist"this is the book for you. Besides putting you
top of the class in any discussion, by reading or dipping into
the bookit is a book you can dip into if you have 5 or 10
minutes to spareit is an excellent way to re-learn all aspects
and branches of our speciality. It is well written, wellillustrated and well referenced. This is a book to read and
enjoy, which can rarely be written of current medical literature.

1984 Year Book of Diagnostic Radiology. Ed. by D. G. Bragg,

et al. pp. 517 +index. 1984 (Year Book Medical Publishers,
Inc, Chicago). 37.50.
ISBN 0-8151-1133-9
The 1984 Year Book of Diagnostic Radiology has now
expanded to a sizable volume of over 500 pages with an
editorial board of six distinguished radiologists and one
professor of medical physics. As in previous editions all
aspects of our ever expanding specialty are included in the
seven separate chapters. To look at the list of journals which
have been surveyed and whose articles when appropriate have
been summarised is a measure of the intense effort with which
the editors have carried out their task.
Year Books serve at least three major rolesthey introduce
one to articles which one may have missed in the journals, they
act as reminders of references and lastly and most importantly
they enable one to compare one's assessment of an article or
research work with that of the editors. This edition of the Year
Book lives up to the previous high standard and is essential
reading for all practising radiologists no matter how
experienced they may be. Serendipity is often a most useful
and painless form of tuition.

J. A. GLEESON

J. A. GLEESON

D. G. SHAW

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