Book Review

Motility Disorders of the Gastrointestinal Tract: Principles and Practice

N Engl J Med 1993; 329:1360-1361October 28, 1993

Article

Motility Disorders of the Gastrointestinal Tract: Principles and Practice
Edited by Sinn Anuras. 465 pp., illustrated. New York, Raven Press, 1992. $98. ISBN: 0-88167-928-3

This book, a comprehensive treatise on the causes, diagnosis, and management of gastrointestinal-motility disorders, consists of 19 chapters with extensive references, contained in slightly under 500 pages. The first six chapters are devoted to basic tenets of gastrointestinal structure and function as they relate to motility, followed by descriptions of various methods of assessing events involving motility throughout the gastrointestinal system. The remaining 13 chapters focus on disease-specific (“Irritable Bowel Syndrome”) or organ-specific (“Motility Disorders of the Esophagus”) motility disorders.

This book conveys a broad-based but not overly detailed understanding of normal and abnormal gastrointestinal motility. It achieves its goal through the generally lucid writing and the overlap of information from chapter to chapter commonly observed in multiauthored works. Therefore, the reader is best advised to go through this book in a relaxed manner; the easy style will allow one to finish it in a relatively short time and carry away an appreciation of the field of gastrointestinal motility, particularly current practice and research methods for solving its many riddles.

Certain inconsistencies detract from the overall quality of the book. For example, an excellent introductory chapter on gastrointestinal neuromuscular anatomy contains fine photographs, some of which lack the arrows and labels described in their legends. Some chapters describing motility studies of various organs lack pictures of motility tracings, which would have helped the reader to understand the text. All the chapters are clearly written, but the target audience seems to vary from medical students to practicing gastroenterologists. There is very good consistency among the seven chapters written solely or in part by the editor. Finally, as is often the case in scientific books, there are some deficiencies in “cutting edge” information, most notably the absence of any mention of nitric oxide, an important regulator of gastrointestinal motility.

Despite these drawbacks, gastroenterologists, surgeons, and basic scientists wishing to bring their general knowledge of clinical motility disorders up to date will find this book useful. Its readability should allow it to fit into the busiest of schedules. With subsequent editions (which will undoubtedly be necessary in this rapidly evolving field), more attention by the publisher and editor can make this a superior resource in a library of publications on digestive diseases.

James M. Harig, M.D.
University of Chicago Hospitals, Chicago, IL 60637