252 BOOK REVIEWS

Occult Traumatic Lesions of the Cervical Vertebrae. By MARTIN S. AJ3~L. Pp. 148. St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. Warren H. Green, Inc. $;12.50.

The author of this monograph demonstrates that fractures of the posterior arches, articular processes and joints of Luschka of the cervical spine are much more common than generally supposed. The book is readable and well illlus- trated. The illustrations are generally of minimal lesions, and, in the circumstances, are quite convincing.

Dr. Abel states that a minimum of 11 views is necessary for a complete evaluation of the cervical spine and he lists and illustrates the necessary views. I must fault the book for poor descriptions of the radiographic techniques. The busy radiologist should expect a skilled radiographer to obtain a given projection after reading a textbook description, but some of these instructions are misleading or inadequate. Examples of sloppy descriptions are 'basilar views' page 11 and 'AP views angled 25 ° - 30 ° Caudad' page 17. From the illustrations of these methods, one assumes that a magnifi- cation technique is used but this fact is not mentioned in the description. Later, however, the author mentions that he uses a differential magnification technique. This criticism is made because the illustrations of the radiographs were so good that I myself wished to use some of the techniques.

The rest of the book is clearly written. The author pro- vides a factual description of his work and makes no exag- gerated claims. For example, he does not suggest that particular symptoms may be related to the small fractures, but the importance of the associated soft tissue damage is emphasized. Dr. Abel believes that injuries involving the joints of Luschka are important causes of later hypertrophic osteoarthritis of the cervical spine. He also suggests that some so-called cerebral palsy patients have symptoms explicable on a basis of trauma to the neck at birth.

This monograph may easily be read in a couple of hours. I recommend it to all radiologists called upon to examine an injured cervical spine.

PHILIP JACOBS

The Radiology of Skeletal Disorders. By RONALD O. MURRAY and HAROLD G. JACOBSON. Pp. 1320. 1971. Edinburgh & London; Churchill Livingstone. Price £20-00.

This is a very unusual volume. It combines the features of a text book, reference book and quiz book and succeeds in all three aspects. Though one author is British and the other American and both work in their respective countries, the styles blend remarkably well and no suggestion of fragmen- tation of the contents can be detected.

Let it be said at once that the book is very large and consequently expensive. Some radiologists may perhaps peruse the section on dysplasias in the beginning of the book and feel thankful that such lesions rarely come their way and decide not to buy the book. If so, may I suggest turning to Exercise 20 - the trauma quiz - and seeing how you fare? You may perhaps decide that you cannot afford to be without the book !

As would be expected from the reputation of the authors, the material is very comprehensive and up-to-date. The prose is clear and concise. It is inevitable that one would not agree with every statement in such a huge book e.g. 'Females are only rarely affected by anklyosing spondylitis' p. 334; 'osteoporosis of which the main causes are disease, endocrine

disturbances and vitamin C deficiency' p. 488; 'bilateral tibial osteoporosis in an adult is usually syphilitic in origin' p. 308. Some phrases could be improved e.g. metaphyseal portion of the diaphysis (why not just 'metaphysis'?), metastases in fingers or toes from carcinoma of the body of the uterus are not entirely infrequent (my italics).

Some repetition is inevitable because of the arrangement of the contents. However one feels grateful for it - the authors do not repeat the obvious but show great skill in repeating points that the reader has probably forgotten.

The book is lavishly illustrated. Since it contains 1320 pages, the paper is rather thin and consequently, some illustrations are not as good as they should be. The text and general concept of the book are so good that only paper of the highest quality could possibly do justice to the contents. I can understand that improvement of the paper would necessitate dividing the work into two volumes. This problem will have to be faced since I have no doubt that further editions will be demanded.

So that any criticisms may be put in perspective, may I say that I believe this to be the best book on skeletal radiology ever written. At £20.00 it is good value by present day standards. All Radiological and General Medical libraries must possess this work and I recommend it also for personal purchase. The authors are to be congratulated on a brilliant achievement.

PHILIP JACOBS

Neuroradiologic Anatomy- A Stereoscopic Atlas. By R. S. I.EIGHTON. Published by Livingstone. £25-50.

In reviewing this atlas one inevitably turns one's mind to Bassett's magnificent 'Stereoscopic Atlas of Human Anatomy' and in particular the section on the brain. He was the pioneer of the technique of reproducing small coloured stereoscopic photographs to be viewed with the standard 'Viewmaster'. Indeed Leighton acknowledges Bassett's work and before the latter died, obtained help from him. Anyone who knows Bassett's Anatomy will realise how difficult it would be for anyone else to approach his standard. Leighton has gone a long way to achieving this. In his preface he frankly states that this was his aim.

Ideally the student (of whatever age) should work on the two books together. Leighton has produced three kinds of material: 1. Plastic casts; 2. Post-mortem stereoscopic X-rays after injection of various structures with appropriate contrast material; 3. Stereoscopic X-rays in the living. To each and everyone of these there is an accompanying labelled drawing. Altogether there are 22 stereoscopic reels, each with seven pairs of pictures thus making in all 154. For the most part the pictures are quite excellent. In some cases the line drawings are unduly complicated, particularly when depicting the arteries. This is perhaps inevitable but one would have liked to see the main branches of the middle cerebral artery shown separately and with separate drawings. The branches of this vessel are probably the most difficult of all to visualise in three dimensions.

There is a very useful section at the end of the atlas showing a number of diagrams explaining the variations of the cerebral vasculature.

One can unhesitatingly recommend the atlas fo r every library wherever radiology is taught.

JAMES BULL