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Gastrointestinal endoscopy: beyond the basics. John Baille. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann 1997 (x+158pp.). ISBN: 0 7506 9555 2. |
This book is
a sequel to Gastrointestinal endoscopy: basic principles and practice, and is targeted at advanced trainees in gastroenterology. The content, as the title states, is "beyond the basics" and assumes prior knowledge and experience of the relevant procedures. It focuses primarily on practical techniques for dealing with frequently encountered problems in endoscopy. Its author is the director of the hepatobiliary and pancreatic disorders service at Duke University Medical Center, now one of the largest centres of gastroenterology in the USA. Dr Baille's clinical research interests relate to gastrointestinal endoscopy and the book appears to be written in large part from personal experience. The first section of the book covers upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, dealing particularly with therapeutic procedures. The second section deals with colonoscopic problems, including polypectomy and decompression in colonic pseudo-obstruction. The third section deals with the therapeutic applications of endoscopic retrograde pancreatography and is the strongest section in the book, comprehensively covering the multitude of problems associated with this procedure. The final section is titled "Evolving techniques" and attempts to deal with a number of new procedures, including enteroscopy, endoscopic ultrasound, laser and photodynamic therapy. Unfortunately, this is the weakest part of the book. It is difficult to read and provides no more than a brief overview of these techniques. The strength of the first three sections does, however, compensate for the fourth. Ian R Willett
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