Digestable reading | |
The little black book of gastroenterology. 2nd ed.
David W Hay. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett, 2006 (xxi + 482 pp). |
This pocket-sized book of nearly 500 pages on gastroenterology is an excellent addition to the library of ready references currently available on the topic. Written by a US-based gastroenterologist, it is designed for clinicians treating adults and adolescents with gastroenterology and liver problems. The book’s key strengths are its comprehensiveness and its concise format, making it a useful ready reference for general physicians, junior doctors and nurses working in gastroenterology. It is well set out, with each subject having a standard format: review articles, causes, epidemiology, pathophysiology, symptoms, signs, course of disease, complications, differential diagnoses, laboratory tests, x-ray, endoscopy and treatment. The first section deals with how to approach common clinical problems such as abdominal pain, diarrhoea and liver disease, and considers differential diagnoses and an approach to diagnosis and management. The second section then deals with the individual diseases. Each section and subsection is well delineated. The little black book of gastroenterology is very comprehensive in the diseases covered, and the review article reference provided at the beginning of each chapter is very useful. The only negative aspect of the book is the use of abbreviations which may not be clear to those less familiar with gastroenterology. Overall, this is a well written and up-to-date evidence-based pocket reference for those interested in clinical gastroenterology and hepatology. Anne E Duggan
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