Book Review

Book Review By Steven Savoie, DC

Title:

The Portable Skeletal X-Ray Library

Authors:

Marshall N. Deltoff, DC, BSc, DACBR, FCCR(C);
Peter L. Kogon, DC, DACBR, FCCR(C), FICC

Publication:

Hardcover, 376 pages

Publisher:

Mosby-Year Book, Inc., 1997

Category:

Doctor/student reference and education

Price:

$67.95

Part #:

T-193

For those in our profession who have wanted a concise radiologic reference for use in studying or office use, this book may answer your request. The authors have compiled a wonderfully complete collection of pathologic entities found on routine radiographs. More than that, they have restricted themselves to those entities likely to be found in the average chiropractic practitioner's office.

As we all know, many radiographic texts are voluminous collections of all possible lesions known to afflict the skeletal system. These texts are excellent and most appropriate for the detailed education of chiropractic students and residents in radiology. However, they are often difficult for the practitioner to use in the office. What chiropractors need on a daily basis is a book that encompasses the many lesions that are likely to present in daily practice.

Drs. Deltoff and Kogon have given us that book. The chapters cover the familiar topics of congenital anomalies and normal variants; arthritides; tumor; blood (vascular); infection; trauma; endocrine and metabolic bone disease; soft tissue; and scoliosis. Each chapter contains an outline with page numbers of the various conditions covered in the chapter.

The chapters contain excellent examples of radiographs with clear illustrations. The chapters are not written in paragraph form. Instead, each condition has bulleted points outlining the various aspects (lab, imaging, differential diagnosis, etc.) of the featured condition. This makes the chiropractor's job of researching a particular condition much easier. Several chapters contain tables outlining the differential diagnosis between conditions when appropriate.

The Portable Skeletal X-Ray Library is well-constructed. There are more than 900 radiographs and illustrations in this book. The back of the book contains a bibliography giving the references for more detailed study. In my opinion, the authors have succeeded in their goal of producing a book that bridges the gap between comprehensive, voluminous texts and synopses focusing on rare or specific conditions. They have written a very thorough radiographic text in less than 400 pages that gives the practitioner an easily usable, day-to-day reference in the office. I would highly recommend this book to my colleagues.