Pradip R. Patel, Lecture Notes: Radiology, second ed.,Blackwell Publishing, 2005, (Paperback), 307 pp., £18.99.,ISBN 1-4051-2067-3.

Part of the successful ‘‘Lecture Notes’’ series, support-ing medical students and junior doctors to prepare forexaminations, Lecture Notes: Radiology offers a ‘‘concisecourse in radiological interpretation’’. Focussing mainlyupon plain film and contrast radiology, the book is writtenby Dr Pradip Patel, a Consultant Radiologist, and can beread as a companion guide alongside the author’s CD ROM(Interactive Radiology Imagebank). The chapters are di-vided into anatomical systems and patient groups, with anintroductory section briefly explaining the scientific con-cepts of each of the main imaging modalities. Subsequentchapters briefly explain various radiological examinations,then list the presentation, radiological features and compli-cations of commonly encountered pathologies. The pathol-ogies are supported by high quality medical images/diagrams with accompanying notes. However, the imagesare not referred to within the text so one is uncertainwhen to view them, and there is also a rather confusing la-belling system using arrows with varying orientation.

The text is succinct and lends itself to revision orquick reference, however, there are no references withinthe text, which cannot be easily justified in terms ofevidence-based medicine. Suggestions for further readingwould have been beneficial regarding image interpretationand evolving techniques (e.g. PET and CT pneumocolon).

A number of small inaccuracies were found within thetext (e.g. venography is performed via proximal contrastinjection), as well as arguable points (e.g. foetal anomaly

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Radiography (2006) 12, 272e273

BOOK REVIEWS

A. Oppelt (Ed.), Imaging Systems for Medical Diagnostics,Publicis Corporate Publishing, 2005, (996 pp., £85.00Hardback), ISBN 3-89578-226-2.

This book has been written for students studyingbiomedical engineering, medical physics, and engineersworking on medical technologies. The book is divided intofive parts e Principles of Image Processing, Physics ofImaging, Image Reconstruction, Image Instrumentation,and Information Processing & Distribution. These arefurther divided into chapters written by different authorswho investigate the concepts behind and applicationsof Digital Imaging, Fluoroscopy (including Angiography),Ultrasound, Computed Tomography, and Magnetic Reso-nance Imaging. The book also considers the importance ofsoftware-based solutions that are used in the imagingdepartment.

The layout and presentation of the book are poor andcould have been improved significantly. The font size istoo small, forcing the reader to concentrate veryhard when reading the text. In addition, the small fontsize also makes it hard to follow the calculus andderivation of the equations that are used. The text issupported by diagrams throughout, however, some of thediagrams that are used could have been larger andpresented in colour for ease of clarity. The book usescurrent research to complement the text and providesa list of references that are used after each chapter, thisis really helpful for the reader who wishes to furtherimprove their knowledge. Unfortunately, the author hasused the same numbering system to label the diagrams,equations, and references within the text. This can bevery confusing for the reader, and the reader willcontinuously, throughout text, have to confirm whetherthe author is referring to either a diagram, equation, orreference.

The book is well written and the content is relevant,however, it is probably more suited to postgraduatestudents and qualified personnel. The variety of authorsthat contributes to the text provides a worthwhile andinformative resource but the text at times goes into toomuch depth that would be required for undergraduatestudents; but could definitely be used to complement theirstudies.

Kevin McHughDepartment of Radiography,

City University,London, UK

E-mail address: k.mchugh@city.ac.uk

doi: 10.1016/j.radi.2006.04.001