342 C L I N I C A L R A D I O L O G Y

Book Reviews

Emmett's Clinical Urography - An Atlas and Textbook of Roentgenologic Diagnosis, 4th edn. By D. 3I. Witten and G. H. Myers. W. B. Saunders C ompany , 1977. Volumes 1, 2, 3, 1 - 2 2 5 0 pp. + index. £75.00.

This is t he 4th edition of Clinical Urography, a work already well established as the standard reference and t ex tbook on uroradiology_ The new edit ion is even better than the previous ones. The title has been changed in this edit ion to Emmett's Clinical Urography as a lasting tr ibute to Dr John L. Emmet t , who died during its preparation. He had already planned the form, overall content and philosophical approach taken in this work.

The 3rd edit ion was published iri 1971 and it was soon clear that the rapid development o f new techniques necessi- tated a further edition. This became available in 1977, and a lot of new material, including three new chapters, added.

The format is unchanged but the pages are bigger and space used much more economical ly, so the large increase in text and illustrations has only needed a further 174 pages. The new chapters are on 'Renal Mass Puncture and Percutane- ous Translumbar Pyelography', 'Techniques and Applications of Sonography and Computed Tomography ' and 'Renal Failure and Renal Parenchymal Disease'. These are very good and include a lot of detail. However, as is inevitable in rapidly expanding fields, the sections on sonography and computed tomography will need to be further updated in the next edition.

The whole woik has been extensively rewritten and revised. This has included basic techniques , as well as the more sophisticated ones; so the section on 'The Excretory Urogram' is now incredibly comprehensive and includes all the information necessary to perform the examinat ion, even the size o f needle to use. This a t tent ion to detail is continued th roughout the section on technique.

Generally the illustrations are excellent (almost the only except ion being Fig_ 9 - 2 8 2 ) and clearly show the relevant details. Some o f the cases inevitably were investigated a long t ime ago, and are used either to demonst ra te older techniques or rare condit ions. As the first edit ion was published in 1951, the work was spanned over a quarter of a century and this is reflected in the material, for example, in the section on calculous disease, m a n y of the examples emphasise retro- grade pyelography and less use is made of oblique views during excretory urography.

The references, naturally, have been revised and brought up to date. The index remains excellent. Considering the quality o f the reproduct ions the price of £75.00 for the whole edit ion o f three volumes is very reasonable.

Emmett's Clinical Urography is an essential bench book for all X-ray depar tments and is the mos t comprehensive work on uroradiology. Considerable revision and expansion make the four th edit ion an outs tanding memorial to Dr John L. Emmett_

Hllary Skene-Smith

Atlas of Nuclear Medicine. Vol. IV: Bone. By Pablo E. Dibii and Henry N. Wagner Jr. W. B. Saunders Combo- ~

' - " ' , t- , , t IIy~ Philadelphia. 197 pp. 181 figs. US$35, Canada $40.25.

This volume comprises the four th in a series published by this house and deals largely with bone rather than Joint disease. Indeed, more pages are devoted to metastatic bone disease than to the entire section on arthropathies.

There is a brief introduction, followed by a short disser. tat ion on normal scintigraphic ana tomy and illustrations 0f the alterations of the images which may be expected with skeletal maturat ion. There fo l lowsa series of chapters which may be basically divided into benign bone conditions, pr imary neoplasms of the skeleton, metastat ic bone disease and miscellaneous conditions, including soft tissue lesions. In parallel with previous volumes, each chapter comprises a series of essentially illustrative case reports. Provided with each are scintigraphic images and as the authors think necessary, appropriate radiographs and photomicrographs. Succinct ~omment is provided with each case report, indi. cating the major teaching points that may be derived from the examination. The volume concludes with a brief bibli0. graphy and an adequate index.

The authors do not a t t empt to discuss the problems in scintigraphic imaging of the skeleton and apart from discus- sing tomographic scanning, do not consider the technical aspects that may be thought necessary in producing go06 quality bone scan images. Many of the cases are anecdotal and some of a rarified nature, such as diffuse pulmonary calcification, SOarab haemoglobinopathy and dog heart worm infection. The scan images are of a high quality, the reproduct ions of the accompanying radiographs are uniformly poor, such that the reader cannot illicit the signs described in the text. Indeed, one pair (p. 97) of radiographs have been printed upside down and another specifically excludes the area of interest (p. 103). Some of the interpre- tations of scintigrams seem highly content ious , such as the consistent description of mye lomatous lesions as photon-rich a r e a s .

The reader who wishes to get to grips with the gamut of bone pathology as it is demonst ra ted scintigraphically will enjoy perusing the pages of this well presented book, will find it interesting and thought provoking. Those who have a specific interest in osteoarticular radiology may find it a little disappointing and it is unlikely to contr ibute signifi- cantly for those sitting for the Fellowship Examination. lt, none the less would be a useful addition to the shelves of those training depar tments which have a particular commit- men t to scintigraphic imaging.

Iain Watt