Two decades ago we expected to have to turn to the publishers from the USA or Germany for consistently produced highest quality textbooks. Many a praiseworthy tome came from the subcontinent of India, but, all too often, economic constraints dominated, resulting in poor quality printing, on cheap nasty paper, with a spine that rapidly disintegrated. If ever there was an example of the economic powerhouse that is modern India, this book is such.
It is a sensibly sized paperback (but with remarkable content) edited by two professors of radiology, with editing of the surgical content by Prof Suresh Sharma and with many contributors, all from The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
Flicking through the pages, the immediate impression is of the quality of the printing, the superb reproduction of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans (in perfect monochrome and high contrast), and the variety of pathological processes covered.
Topics are set out as one might expect. The basic science of imaging techniques such as CT, MRI, magnetic resonance angiography and diffusion-weighted MRI (which I suddenly understand) are clearly explained. The ‘normal anatomy’ chapters go beyond the title of the book, to include coverage of MRI of the posterior fossa and the inner ear. Congenital abnormality coverage cleverly includes a chapter subtitled ‘Surgical Perspective’, and it did strike me how, throughout this book, the surgical value of what radiologists can show one, is addressed. Too many atlases show the curiosities, without addressing clinical relevance. An excellent and quite novel idea, used for several topics, is to present a systematic approach to interpretation and reporting of imaging, with clinical examples. The ‘reporting template’ is carried over to topics as diverse as middle-ear sepsis and evaluation for cochlear implantation. You would expect good coverage of tumours, trauma and petrous apex lesions, as some striking imaging can result. However, evaluation of vertigo and especially tinnitus were, I thought, inspired topics for a radiology book. I well recall a frantic, last minute summons to a radiology conference, to talk on imaging of the latter, with great authority (and many pictures), as no one else could be found! This chapter would have been a godsend 10 years ago.
This is the first volume of an intended series, but I imagine they will be departing from the head and neck to other specialties’ territory. The price quoted above is not an error, it really is that cheap, and amazing value as such. The authors close their preface with ‘We welcome any feedback on enhancing the content of the book, which can be incorporated in the subsequent editions’. I can only say that I usually donate books, which I get to keep after review, to our post-graduate library. This time I will be greedy. This stays on my bookshelf.
