Br. J. Surg. Vol. 63 (1976) 420

Reviews and notices of books

Fundamentals of Operating Room Nursing Shirley M. Brooks, Portland, Oregon. 2 5 0 ~ 175 mm. Pp. 184+ uiii. Illirstrated. 1975. London: Kimpton. i3 .50. THIS book has set out with the clear purpose of defining a series of objectives for nurses who want to acquire theoretical and practical skills in the operating theatre, with the additional aim of describing the factual needs required to achieve the objectives, and with the hope that much of the material can be presented in illustrated form. It is a credit to the author that she has thus gone a long way towards codifying and explaining operating room procedures, and anyone, be he or she nurse, surgeon or technician, will find something of value here. Unfortunately, the text, illustrations and references are exclusively transatlantic. Further, the illustrations are very variable; some, particularly line drawings, are extremely good, but others, mainly photographs, are hazy, uninformative or both. The book, which is cheap and otherwise well produced, would prove useful as a framework around which to build a personal course of teaching. Anyone who does so can profit from the author’s methods, but should make a new list of objectives which might well include much more on the effective ergonomic positioning and inter-relationship of the operating team which is unfortunately not mentioned here.

H. A. F. DUDLEY

Diverticular Disease of the Colon Neil S. Painter, London. 220X 140 mm. Pp. 305fx io , with 69 illustralions. 1975. London: Heinemann. €6.25. DIVERTKULAK disease is the commonest pathological con- dition of the colon in the Western, so-called civilized, world. The pathogenesis, diagnosis, complications and management of colonic diverticula are therefore subjects of the greatest interest to a wide spectrum of the profession. Mr Painter, whose investigations have done so much to elucidate the aetiology of this condition, bas produced a clearly written and well-illustrated monograph which, as Norman Tanner states in the Foreword, is ‘perhaps the most outstanding study of colonic diverticulosis and diverticulitis since the classic work of Harold Edwards, and has brought our knowledge of it up to date’.

Considerable emphasis is rightly placed upon the physiology of the large bowel, the clinical features and investigations (with an important section by Louis Kreel on the radiology of the disease) and on its incidence and epidemiology. There is a full discussion of the serious complications of diverticula and their management and an interesting contribution by Michael Reilly on the technique of surgical myotomy. Elsewhere details of surgical management are kept to a minimum, but basic principles of treatment are ably discussed and wise advice given on the difficult problems presented by perforation and massive haemorrhage.

As one might expect from the well-known interests of the author, there is a fascinating account of the relationship of the distribution of the disease to the removal of plant, and especially cereal, fibre from the modern over-refined diet. The author considers that colonic diverticula represent a preventable deficiency disease which can be remedied by the adoption of a fibre-rich diet. The final chapter discusses the possible relation- ships between low-fibre diet and the ‘irritable bowel’ syndrome, varicose veins, piles, bowel cancer, atheroma and the other diseases of civilized man.

This is a book which will appeal to everyone concerned with and interested in this common and fascinating condition.

HAROLD ELLIS

A Synopsis of Surgical Anatomy Edited D. J . drr Plessis, Johannesburg. Eleuenth edition. 184 x I21 mm. Pp. 898, with 779 illarstrotiotrs. 1975. Brrstol: Wright. f 7 .

THE first edition of this classic by Lee McGregor of Johannesburg appeared in 1932 and this distinguished surgeon saw it through ten editions and numerous reprints. Following his sudden death, Professor du Plssis took over the revision of the latest edition. The format remains unchanged: a series of short essays, each complete in itself, divided into tHo sections, dealing with the anatomy of the normal and of the abnormal respectively. There is no attempt at presenting a systematic anatomy in competition with the standard works already available for this, but rather a wide spectrum of interesting practical topics is considered, ranging over the whole body and every surgical discipline, from the significance to the clinician of the layers of the scalp down to the anatomy of amputation of the toes. Numerous references are given to important surgical and anatomical publications for further reading. The text is illustrated by numerous simple line drawings, but, as often happens in long-established publications, some of these are becoming rather worn and this could be remedied in future printings.

This is a book which will introduce the medical student to the practical value of anatomy. will greatly assist the surgical trainee working for the primary FRCS and will continue to be a stimulus to the practising surgeon.

HAROLD ELLIS

Recent Trends in Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Edited Joseph B . Barman, Jerusalem. 255 x 180 mm. Pp. 222. Illustrated. 1975. New York: Grune & Stratton. $17.JO. ANYONE who has been involved in the production of a multi- author book must be aware of the enormous amount of work which has been done by the editor, Joseph Borman, of this book.

In many ways, it is much more difficult to produce a book with eminent authors, for such people are usually very busy, have little concept of time and have a very fixed style. It is interesting, therefore, that the editor has managed to make this a reasonably up-to-date volume and yet to have many of the best people contributing. Knowing the effort that has gone into such a book it is churlish to be critical, but this is the reviewer’s task. The main criticism is of the title, which perhaps does it less than justice. ‘Recent trends’ includes what are almost historical reviews, such as Lord Brock‘s fascinating analysis of his closed mitral valvotomy results, although none could quarrel with Lord Brock’s conclusion that mitral valvotomy is indeed one of the great operations of surgery. This should be contrasted with the relatively experimental procedure (none the worse for its originality) described by Ben Milstein for the treatment of intractable peptic stricture of the oesophagus, which is a series of only 10 patients, the longest survival being only 3 years. In between these two examples lies a fascinating review of the revascularization of the myocardium by Arthur Weinberg. In the reviewer’s opinion a better title for the book would have been an ‘An overview of some aspects of left ventricular and thoracic surgery’.

This is a good book, a good read and one which every surgeon who expects to enter the chest should read. It is relatively expensive, but the production of the book is first class.

D. LONGMORE

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