B o o k reviews 209

the X-rays are poorly reproduced yet they show the salient features. Almost all the clinical photographs are in colour and show the important points excellently• The questions are in the first part of the book and the answers in the last part.

The authors' preface indicates that the material chosen was for senior medical students and junior hospital doctors but the material is very wide ranging and some is too advanced for the targeted audience. Many of the cases would be suitable for a short case in a clinical orthopaedic fellowship examination.

The candidate preparing for a specialty orthopaedic examination would do very well to browse through the material in this book not only to practise his patter for describing conditions that he knows but also to reassure himself that his knowledge is not as full of holes as he fears• He might also learn a few useful points. It is not a book that he will ever use for reference but it would be understandable if he made slides of many of the illustrations to use in future lectures.

PAUL BUTT

Imaging Atlas of Orthopaedic Appliances and Prostheses Thomas H. Berquist, editor, Raven Press, 1994

ISBN 0-7817-0222-4 978 pages Price $ 246.00

It was with eager anticipation that I delved into this Imaging Atlas of Orthopaedic Appliances and Prostheses. New ideas, better understanding, modern surgical techniques and patient management plans would all await me, but it is written by an outstanding musculo-skeletal radiologist and is essentially for radiology staff. Although it claims to be useful for orthopaedic trainees it is in fact an outstanding reference on orthopaedic imaging, but it is not an orthopaedic textbook. It may be useful to identify some unusual implants found in your patients. This book will not become essential reading for the resident or senior registrar in training, but if your library budget allows it could have a place on the reference shelf•

MARTIN STONE

Clinical Anatomy of the Cervical Spine Johannes Lang, Thieme Medical Publishers Inc, 1993

ISBN 0-86577--486-2 192 pages Price 180 DM

This book has been translated from the original German without losing a sense of the author's individual style and without the introduction of the neologisms and fractured English so common in 'overseas' texts• The numerous colour prints and line drawings are comprehensive and comprehensible, benefitting from a high standard of reproduction. Although this is a single author tome, Johannes Lang has sought advice from specialists in the fields of ENT surgery, orthopaedics, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, radiologists and neurologists, to produce an extensive reference list and an almost encyclopedic review of the embryology, clinical anatomy and individual variations of the cervical spine and adjacent regions. The historical backgrounds to a variety of anatomical discoveries and surgical procedures make fascinating and enlightening reading.

This book finds its real worth as a specialist reference work, perhaps for a regional library, although the specialist spine fellow (and, indeed, his specialist spine trainer) will

find this to be a comforting companion on the office bookshelf. I suspect the junior trainee will find the book a little too detailed, but FRCS(Orth) or Boards candidates will find many sections useful for their examinations.

PETER MILLNER

Surgical Techniques for the Shoulder M. Randelli, P L. Gambrioli, R. Minola and E Odella, Piccin, Padua-New York 1995

ISBN 1-57235-082-2 223 pages Price £ 60.00

This book is a comprehensive atlas of operative shoulder surgery. It is divided into six sections covering exposures, surgery for instability, surgery for impingement and the rotator cuff, osteoarticular surgery, ablative surgery and arthroscopic surgery. For each operation the approach, technical aspects of surgery and post-operative care are covered, but there is no guidance on indications, complications or relative merits of each procedure. The translation from Italian has resulted in some awkward phraseology which could have been better edited, but the real strength of this book lies in the excellent illustrations by Claudio Pazzaglia. Wherever opened, diagrams occupy the right hand page and the accompanying text is to the left. The former are of such clarity that often only minimal reference to the written account is required. No references are gwen to original works, but the description of each proceedure is clear. It is ironic that the only difficulty in comprehending the illustrations arises in the section on arthroscopic surgery where operative photographs are used and the labelling is poor.

This volume should be part of any departmental or theatre library and is recommended reading for all candidates preparing for the FRCS(Orth) examination. Any trainee who has even a remote interest in shoulder surgery will probably be tempted to acquire a copy of their own.

DAVID LIMB

Combined Scintigraphic and Radiographic Diagnosis of Bone and Joint Diseases Yong Whee Bahk, Springer-Verlag, 1994

ISBN 3-540-5b857-3 241 pages Price 298 DM

The first question that the reader will ask is 'Why don't I get bone scints that look like this?'. The question is certainly justified since there are almost three-hundred bone scintigrams in mind-blowing detail. Particularly impressive are the lateral scints of the cervical spine, the scintigraphy of the small bones of the wrists and hands, and the scints which permit differential assessment of uptake in the subchondral area compared to the centre of an epiphysis such as the hip. There is no difficulty in defining the origin of high scintigraphic activity in one portion of the posterior elements of a vertebral body, to one of the carpal bones, or to one part of the shoulder joint.

The answer to the question is pin-hole collimation. This is the oldest technique available to improve the resolution of a bone scintigram and clearly is still the best. Although using pin-hole collimation increases the length of time that it takes to perform a bone scintigram thereby rendering it inappropriate for routine use it is a technique which obviously has much to offer in the special case and it is regrettable that this technique is not available in most diagnostic units. Anyone who reads this book is bound to