Book Review
Textbook of Clinical Pediatrics
N Engl J Med 2002; 346:1033-1034March 28, 2002
- Article
Textbook of Clinical Pediatrics
Edited by Abdelaziz Y. Elzouki, Harb A. Harfi, and Hisham M. Nazer. 1800 pp., illustrated. Philadelphia, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2001. $139. ISBN: 0-7817-2804-5Textbook of Clinical Pediatrics, edited by three Saudi Arabian pediatricians, aims at a broad audience interested in the health of children. More than 100 authors, many from Saudi Arabia, cover a wide spectrum of pediatric disorders. The book emphasizes clinical aspects of common and important pediatric diseases. Most of the book uses a standard approach and is accurate, well balanced, and comprehensive. Several innovative methods are used in some sections. One is the presentation of a representative case to accompany the description of the pathogenesis, differential diagnosis, and treatment of a disease. In the chapters on organic and amino acid metabolism and on lysosomal storage diseases, case histories are presented for many disorders. As a starting point for teaching differential diagnosis, such case histories can be invaluable, but I found that the use of so many cases takes up valuable space. Nonetheless, some readers will find the immediacy of these case reports useful as an introduction to the presentation, course, and lifelong implications of these diseases. This approach was not consistent among sections or chapters.
Several organ-system–oriented sections begin with a brief but useful chapter on the approach to a clinical problem, such as dysmorphism, metabolic acidosis, or hematuria. These chapters will be particularly useful to students and others confronting a new clinical problem. For most readers, this comprehensive approach can facilitate logical and efficient diagnostic and treatment plans and can ensure that a broad differential diagnosis is considered before a specific diagnosis is too quickly made.
There are numerous illustrations, photographs, and tables in the book. These are generally useful and clear. Some of the photographs of sonograms, echocardiograms, and radiographic studies would be clearer to many readers if they had markers on them pointing to the salient features mentioned in the figure legends. A few color plates usefully illustrate some key physical findings and laboratory test results. References are provided at the end of each chapter and will be useful to readers interested in more detail than can be provided in a general textbook.
One important section of any pediatric textbook is an appendix with normal reference values. Because pediatrics covers such a wide spectrum of ages, weights, and disease processes, normal values for generalists must be readily available. The editors of this book chose to place normal values within individual chapters. This approach has the advantage of juxtaposing laboratory values, growth values, and drug dosages near the clinical disorders to which they are most frequently relevant. However, for a busy practitioner, the ability to turn to the back of a standard textbook to check a value quickly is an important, timesaving way of finding such information.
The textbook has particularly extensive sections on infectious and gastrointestinal disorders as well as good coverage of neurologic, renal, metabolic, neonatal, hematologic, cardiac, and respiratory disease. However, some significant problems that pediatricians handle are inadequately discussed. For instance, there is a short chapter (only 16 pages long) on developmental, learning, and behavioral disorders that is too brief to be helpful. Child abuse receives only a half-page discussion.
All in all, I found the Textbook of Clinical Pediatrics to be a solid and comprehensive treatment of childhood disorders. The book will be useful as a primary textbook for students and residents. Given its international scope, with emphasis on the Middle East, it will be a particularly excellent reference for pediatricians working in a multicultural environment.
Robert T. Brouillette, M.D.
McGill University, Montreal, QC H3H 1P3, Canada
robert.brouillette@muhc. mcgill. ca
