British Journal of Radiology (2003) 76, 843
© 2003 British Institute of Radiology
doi:
Atlas of spine imaging. By D L Renfrew, pp. 376, 2003 (Elsevier Science USA, Philadelphia, PA), £90.00 ISBN 0-7216-9071-8
A Jackson
This is a combination textbook and imaging atlas describing the whole range of spinal diseases. The book is a little under 400 pages long and has an initial introduction to spinal anatomy of 10 pages followed by sections on degenerative spinal disease, post-operative spine, spinal tumours, trauma, spondylitis, congenital abnormalities, spondyloysis and miscellaneous diseases.
Each of the sections is lavishly illustrated, mainly with typical MR images. Unfortunately the quality if some of the MR reproductions is rather poor in the copy that I received and many of the images throughout the book are extremely flat and lacking in contrast. However, although this reduces their aesthetic appeal they are more than adequate as illustrations of the disease processes. The book generally takes an extremely pragmatic approach to diagnosis and clinical reporting which is extremely welcome. There is extensive use of numbered lists in some parts of the book, which is both appropriate and useful, it is also encouraging to see that the author has covered clinical aspects of diseases, including for example, a complete patient information sheet for spinal disease and a section on degenerative diseases explaining its uses and values. As one would expect from Donald Renfrew the collection of images throughout this book is superb and representative examples of most spinal diseases that will be met in normal clinical practice are present.
Another nice feature of the book is the inclusion of example cases with multiple images at the end of the "Degenerative Disease" chapter, which give the reader the ability to test their comprehension of what has been taught against a standard report that has been provided at the end of the section.
In other sections such as the one on spinal tumours and infectious spondylitis, clear guidelines to clinical management and particularly to imaging investigation are provided for different lesion types and symptom complexes. These are in the form of flow diagrams presenting algorithms for the investigation of individual lesions, which are both clear and extraordinarily useful.
Overall this is an absolutely excellent book, which I have no hesitation is recommending both to junior and trainee clinicians and to established consultants dealing with spinal disease on a day-to-day basis. The book is equally useful to both radiologists and non-radiological practitioners. Once again Donald Renfrew is to be complimented on producing what will be I am sure one of the standard reference books on the shelves of most people undertaking spinal imaging.
