Book Review

Williams Hematology

Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice

Current Therapy in Hematology-Oncology

Haemostasis and Thrombosis

N Engl J Med 1996; 334:998-999April 11, 1996

Article

Williams Hematology
Fifth edition. Edited by Ernest Beutler, Marshall A. Lichtman, Barry S. Coller, and Thomas J. Kipps. 1668 pp., illustrated. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1995. $135. ISBN: 0-07-070386-8

Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice
Second edition. Edited by Ronald Hoffman, Edward J. Benz, Jr., Sanford J. Shattil, Bruce Furie, Harvey J. Cohen, and Leslie E. Silberstein. 2369 pp., illustrated. New York, Churchill Livingstone, 1995. $169.95. ISBN: 0-443-08914-0

Current Therapy in Hematology-Oncology
(Current Therapy Series.) Fifth edition. Edited by Michael C. Brain and Paul P. Carbone, with John G. Kelton and Joan H. Schiller. 647 pp. St. Louis, Mosby, 1995. $79.95. ISBN: 0-8151-1189-4

Haemostasis and Thrombosis
Third edition. Edited by Arthur L. Bloom, Charles D. Forbes, Duncan P. Thomas, and Edward G.D. Tuddenham. 1477 pp. in two volumes, illustrated. New York, Churchill Livingstone, 1994. $286.95. ISBN: 0-443-04521-6

Our understanding of pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment in all areas of hematology is evolving at a fast pace. Updated textbooks therefore meet a vital need of academic and private hematologists. To accommodate these advances, new editions of a number of textbooks in hematology have appeared. Williams Hematology, the fifth edition since 1972, and Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice, the second edition since its origin in 1990, both cover general hematology. Williams Hematology is now in color. It opens with three chapters on the clinical evaluation of patients with hematologic disease and then presents concise reviews on the structure of hematopoietic tissue, molecular hematology, and selected therapeutic principles. Separate chapters deal with individual diseases. They are grouped in categories according to their pathophysiologic mechanisms — that is, under the headings of the hematopoietic stem cell; the erythrocyte; granulocytic cells, monocytes, and macrophages; lymphocytes and plasma cells; and hemostasis and thrombosis. A separate part of the book deals with transfusion medicine. At the end, short chapters provide descriptions of special laboratory tests in use for the diagnosis of hematologic diseases.

The initial chapters of Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice address the molecular and cellular bases of hematology. The book then turns to various aspects of immunology. Following this, an extensive series of chapters takes up the various hematologic disorders. These chapters are clustered in sections covering the biology of stem cells, red cells, hematologic cancers, and hemostasis and thrombosis. Additional chapters discuss more general aspects of the pathobiology and therapeutic principles specifically related to these diseases. The final parts of the book deal with transfusion medicine, consultative hematology, and specials tests employed in hematologic practice. The two books are coauthored by a considerable number of mainly North American experts, with a smaller number of non-American contributors. Both are generally of excellent quality and provide up-to-date information. Williams Hematology is somewhat more concise. The color prints of characteristic clinical images and histologic and cytologic preparations are of fine quality. Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice is more detailed and provides more in-depth information on general issues, mechanisms and principles of treatment, and diagnosis. The boxed paragraphs that have been inserted in some chapters provide concise outlines of practical issues or recommendations, such as the diagnostic or therapeutic approach in certain conditions. It is not clear why these boxed summaries are included in some chapters and lacking in others, where they would have been just as appropriate and useful (for example, there is no decision tree on the treatment options in patients with aplastic anemia). Some chapters in the two books were written by the same authors and present almost identical information. Because the two books have a slightly different emphasis, choosing one is really a matter of taste. Both books are authoritative. Williams Hematology is more comprehensive, and because of its clear structure it offers the reader an easy orientation and overview. It might therefore be particularly valuable to private hematologists and oncologists. Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice provides more insights into the scientific basis of hematology and offers more detailed guidance on practical issues of clinical management. This book therefore may well serve as a resource for academic and private medical specialists in hematology.

We had not previously come across Current Therapy in Hematology–Oncology, even though it is already in its fifth edition. The objective of the book is to provide recommendations on the therapeutic treatment of patients with hematologic and oncologic diseases. Each recommendation is supported by selected background information and approximately six relevant and recent references. The book contains more than 100 chapters, each containing roughly six pages and covering a specific subject or disease. Almost one third of the book deals with nonmalignant hematologic disorders. Current therapy for the most important of these disorders — from sickle cell disease to hemophilia, and from idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura to thromboembolic disease in pregnancy — is discussed. Neoplastic diseases constitute the greater part of the book. More than a single chapter has been devoted to some of the frequent cancers to cover various aspects of therapy — for example, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer. General chapters deal with the management of pain, psychiatric complications, and terminal care. The book is up to date and contains short and readable chapters. Late at night a chapter from this book may still be attractive to read. The text is sober, and the focus is practical. As a manual for the treatment of patients with hematologic and oncologic disorders, it will be especially useful to practicing hematologists and oncologists.

The appearance of new editions of the two major textbooks on hemostasis and thrombosis was timed in perfect synchrony in 1994. The two books are leaders in their field, in which we have witnessed an explosion of new knowledge. Hematologists and investigators involved in hemostasis have looked forward to these editions since their predecessors came out in 1987. The first book, Hemostasis and Thrombosis: Basic Principles and Clinical Practice, edited by Robert W. Colman et al. (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1994) has already been reviewed in the Journal (Dec. 22, 1994;331:1722-3). The second book, Haemostasis and Thrombosis, is dedicated to the memory of Professor Arthur Bloom, who died in November 1992. The book is comprehensive, detailed, and up to date. It contains 67 chapters, with contributions from approximately 100 authors. One half of the book was written by authors from the United Kingdom, and one third by contributors from North America. It is split into two volumes, one dealing with basic and general principles, the second with hemorrhagic disorders and clinical practice. This partition does not result in internal discrepancies. The first volume has a clinical orientation throughout, and molecular, genetic, and mechanistic considerations have been integrated into the clinical discussions of the second volume. The first volume starts with a historical background, which effectively introduces students to the chapters to follow. The sections on platelets provide a wealth of valuable information. The chapters on the biochemistry of platelet-membrane glycoproteins and the inherited disorders of platelet function are excellent. As in some other major textbooks, the date of the first description of α-storage pool deficiency is mistakenly given as 1971, which ignores the fact that several reports appeared before this date. The chapter on acquired platelet disorders gives considerably more attention to thrombocytopenia than to qualitative platelet disorders. More information would have been useful here, since the diagnosis of bleeding caused by functional platelet abnormalities may easily be missed. The section on abnormalities of coagulation is extensive and includes the molecular genetics of hemophilia and linkage analysis in the diagnosis of hemostatic disorders. An important message of the chapter on the treatment of patients with inherited coagulation disorders is that treatment of a coagulation-factor deficiency is not simply a matter of replacement of the coagulant protein. The final 250 pages of the book take up clinical aspects of arterial disease, venous thrombosis, and antithrombotic therapy, all challenging and currently active domains of research. The book has comprehensive bibliographies with entries up to 1993, as well as extensive tables and figures. It is beautifully done and published on quality paper. We warmly recommend it to everyone working or interested in the field of hemostasis and thrombosis.

H. Karel Nieuwenhuis, M.D.
University Hospital Utrecht, Utrecht 3524 CX, the Netherlands

Bob Löwenberg, M.D., Ph.D.
Erasmus University, Rotterdam 3015 GE, the Netherlands