Surgical snapshots

The presentation of radiological images is an excellent method for teaching all aspects of medicine to students and advanced trainees. It provides an introduction to the condition under examination and acts as a springboard for further discussion. Cases in surgical radiology is a published version of this commonly utilised teaching technique. It is set out as a series of tutorials constructed by nine consultant radiologists from Eastbourne, Guy’s and St Thomas’s hospitals in the United Kingdom and Vancouver General Hospital in Canada. Each “tute” consists of 12 diverse surgical cases, including radiographs, computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, contrast studies, occasional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear medicine scans, and is set out as a brief clinical history and accompanying radiological study. The reader is asked a series of questions based on these studies. Image interpretation is provided on the following page, together with further imaging and a clinical perspective such as differential diagnosis. Follow-up reading on the subject is facilitated by the inclusion of a literature or textbook reference.

The book works and is fun. The format is simple and concise, and this pocket size, soft-cover book is easy to whip out and read when a spare moment arises. It is not a comprehensive text for the on-call surgical or radiology registrar, although it does have a reasonable index allowing for review of a specific pathological condition. My only complaints are that the contributors have delved a little too deeply into their teaching files, producing one or two cases that are quite esoteric, and that photographic reproduction, especially for the abdominal radiographs, is not always optimal.

I have no hesitation in recommending this book for a medical library catering to students or surgical trainees. Given that it is reasonably cheap, it would also be a good buy for individuals. In summary the concept is excellent, the format well executed and the cases instructive. It is a useful resource for the teaching of surgery through the interpretation of radiological studies.

Christopher J O’DonnellRadiologist, Brighton East, VIC