Secret women's business | |
Gynecology for the primary care physician. Thomas G Stovall, Frank W Ling, editors. Philadelphia: Current Medicine 1999 (xiv + 434pp.). ISBN: 1 57340 126 9. |
The cover of
this rather informative book is deceptive. It portrays a fairly agonised woman viewed from the back, clasping her loins. Displayed on the shelf it would more likely be picked up by a rheumatologist than a gynaecologist.
However, getting past the front cover, this book really does provide a wealth of practical information for the family physician. Refreshingly, the authors of the various chapters are not the standard big heavies of the gynaecological world, but include many junior academic gynaecologists who contribute to the text in a very pragmatic way. The style and content is extremely user friendly, with each chapter conveying key points, diagrammatic presentations of differential diagnosis and algorithms for the investigations of various problems. The major strength of this text is the gynaecological rather than the endocrine section. The urogynaecological section is extremely clear, informative and practical. The book does, however, fall short on the more endocrinological aspects of gynaecology, especially the chapters on premenstrual syndrome and menopause. There is no doubt that any family physician seeing women with fundamental gynaecological problems, particularly urogynaecological, would find this a very handy reference to have. It would certainly not just sit on the shelf and collect dust. Overall, the information presented is not only clear and concise, but is also very accessible and pertinent to primary practice. Susan R Davis |