Book Review

Complications in Head and Neck Surgery

N Engl J Med 1993; 329:216-217July 15, 1993

Article

Complications in Head and Neck Surgery
Edited by Yosef P. Krespi and Robert H. Ossoff. 582 pp., illustrated. Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders, 1993. $85. ISBN: 0-7216-2980-6

Complications in Head and Neck Surgery is a multiauthored book on the prevention, recognition, and treatment of complications seen in the practice of head-and-neck surgery. The content of this book follows the outline of Complications of Head and Neck Surgery, edited by John Conley and published in 1979 (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders). It covers complications not only secondary to surgery but also related to radiation, chemotherapy, head-and-neck trauma, and anesthesia. Several chapters reflect recent advances in areas such as neuro-otology and skull-base surgery, endoscopic sinus surgery, carotid-artery evaluation and management, laryngotracheal devices, and laser surgery. A few topics, such as neck dissection, voice rehabilitation after laryngectomy, and phonosurgery, have been overlooked.

All 31 chapters are by recognized contemporary experts and their associates. The style varies greatly among the authors. An exhaustive presentation of assigned topics, supplemented by an extensive review of the literature and good illustrations, is provided by the majority of authors. For example, the chapter on aesthetic facial surgery contains 51 pages and 273 references. At the other extreme, that on stomal recurrence and mediastinal dissection covers only four pages and could have been integrated into the chapter on laryngeal surgery, with which it shares an author. The authors of the chapter on cleft-lip surgery describe their experience in one page of text, many illustrations, and no references. The chapter on laryngeal surgery describes mainly complications related to the treatment of malignant diseases and does not say much about benign diseases. The format of the references also varies from chapter to chapter, with some listed in alphabetical order and some as they appear in the text.

Each chapter covers a specific type of surgery, a surgical area, or a complication. Taken individually, the chapters cover the topics beautifully, but in the context of a book this thoroughness results in a certain degree of redundancy, with the same complication described in several chapters. Pharyngocutaneous fistula, for example, is discussed in the chapters on head-and-neck infection, surgery of the pharynx and esophagus, laryngeal surgery, and pharyngocutaneous fistula. Other topics are so closely related that repetitions are unavoidable. For example, complications of sinus surgery discussed under “Paranasal Sinus Surgery” are also covered in the next chapter, “Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery,” and even later under “Rigid Endoscopic Procedures.” Similar repetitions occur in the chapters “Blood Vessels” and “Carotid Artery Ligation,” and in “Cranial Nerve Complications,” “Neurotologic and Skull Base Surgery,” and “Skull Base Surgery Complications.”

The chapters are well organized and well illustrated. The book itself is of moderate size and well bound between sturdy hard covers. The sufficiently large characters printed on semigloss paper allow for easy reading. An extensive index makes locating material easy.

Overall, this is an excellent book on the complications encountered while treating head-and-neck conditions. It is a welcome addition to the head-and-neck literature and will greatly benefit head-and-neck surgeons and physicians who face these problems.

Pierre Lavertu, M.D.
Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195