Book Review

Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics

N Engl J Med 1993; 329:366July 29, 1993

Article

Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics
Eighth edition. Edited by A.H. Crenshaw. 3870 pp. in five volumes, illustrated. St. Louis, Mosby-Year Book, 1992. $450. ISBN: 0-8016-1096-6

Fifty-three years elapsed between the first and eighth editions of Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics. The first edition of 1939 had one volume. The present edition has five. The book began as a classic and remains one today. Although it emanates from the Campbell Clinic in Memphis, Tennessee, and records the recommendations and experience of its staff, its editors have consistently tried to include other operative procedures. In this edition they have done so extensively, and all approaches are represented. In some earlier editions, outside experts were invited to contribute in areas in which the clinic staff had limited experience. This is not true of the eighth edition.

The text reads well and is easily understood. Very few areas, such as limb-bearing procedures, are incomplete or not covered because of the limited experience at the Campbell Clinic. Some sections are excellent textbooks in themselves -- such as those on arthroplasty (300-odd pages), hand surgery (500 pages), and fractures and dislocations (more than 600 pages). Coverage of these subjects is remarkably complete. Though the bibliography for each subject is quite extensive, in a few areas the citations do not go beyond 1989.

My only real criticism of these five volumes regards the copies of the roentgenographic studies, photographs, and many of the diagrams of surgical approaches. The reproductions of radiographs are generally poor and not in keeping with the excellent text. The diagrams, except for those in the hand-surgery section, are also often poor. The same is true of many photographs. Some of these were better in earlier editions. The radiographs, photographs, and diagrams need much improvement in future editions.

Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics remains a classic. It should be accessible to all orthopedic surgeons, both in training and in practice.

Henry H. Banks, M.D.
Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02111