BOOK REVIEW |
Essentials of Pain Medicine and Regional Anaesthesia. H. T. Benzon, S. N. Raja, R. E. Mallou, S. S. Lui and S. M. Fishman (editors). Published by Elsevier, Philidelphia. Pp. 734; indexed; illustrated. Price £46.99. ISBN 0-443 06651-5
E-mail: anaes{at}ed.ac.ukI have been very impressed by this book. The title ‘Essentials of Pain Medicine and Regional Anaesthesia’ seems optimistic, because the authors attempt to cover all aspects of pain medicine and regional anaesthesia in one volume. It is an ambitious task, but in the view of this reviewer it is one in which they succeed. This is the second edition of this book, and I believe that this edition does show the maturity that the editors hope for in the preface. The first edition was more of a handbook for trainees in pain medicine in the USA. The editors recognized this and sought to make changes in the second edition to make it a more complete textbook. They expanded each chapter, introduced some new topics, expanded the chapters on regional anaesthesia, and sought to add key points at the end of most of the chapters. By doing this, I believe they have produced almost a complete ‘pain medicine’ textbook for trainees, with the very significant added value of addressing ‘regional anaesthesia’ too. Having achieved this, they were not tempted to change one of the great strengths of the first edition, and have maintained the approach of addressing each topic in a single concise chapter.
The book covers pain medicine and regional anaesthesia in 734 pages, including the index. The nature of the book might be best demonstrated by listing the nine sections in the order in which they are presented: Basic considerations; Clinical evaluation and diagnostic examinations; Pharmacology and pharmacologic modalities; Therapeutic interventions; Perioperative pain management; Chronic pain syndromes; Interventional pain techniques for pain management; Cancer pain; and Local anaesthetics and nerve blockade. With respect to ‘Pain medicine’ the authors have addressed the anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology and clinical examination and treatment of acute, chronic and cancer pain. For ‘Regional anaesthesia’, Section 9 covers the topic very well indeed. Within each section there are short chapters addressing specific topics. The anatomy, physiology and pharmacology are dealt with extremely well, and would suffice for anyone seeking to prepare for the fellowship examinations in the Royal College of Anaesthetists. I found certain chapters extremely useful, especially because of their brief nature. For example, Chapter 4 ‘Physical examination of the pain patient’ is an excellent account of that subject, encompassed within less than ten pages. Chapter 7 ‘Neurophysiologic testing for pain’ is equally good, and this reviewer found Chapter 8 ‘Anatomy, imaging, and common pain—degenerating pathologies of the spine’ to be very useful. The quality of the chapters does vary, because this is a multi-author text, and this does bring some disadvantages in terms of variability in the approach to each subject.
The text may have some disadvantages for some readers. Each chapter is concise, but of necessity that means that each page has much text contained in it, often in large blocks. The authors make good use of tables, and the presentation of key points at the end of most of the chapters is very helpful. The references are up-to-date, and would serve as a starting point for further reading. The illustrations are all in black and white, but these are uniformly good. Those contained in Chapter 8, for example, are excellent. Those contained in Chapters 73 and 74, about brachial plexus blocks, are the best black and white diagrams I have seen in a textbook. Other disadvantages are that much of the ‘regulatory’ comments and drug preparations pertain very much to the USA.
In essence, I consider that this can looked upon as almost the complete core textbook in pain medicine, with the additional value of a very clear and useful section on regional anaesthesia. I believe it would be useful for advanced trainees in pain medicine, and may serve as the main textbook for higher fellowships in pain medicine, such as the fellowship of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. My approach would be to use this book as core reading, and supplement it with smaller monographs and published papers. Established specialists in ‘Pain Medicine and Regional Anaesthesia’ will also find the book useful too because of its concise nature and easy accessibility of individual topics. The editors and authors are to be congratulated on this second edition of their book, which I believe should achieve a wide readership.
Edinburgh, UK
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||