560 BOOK REVIEWS

BOOK REVIEWS

Urological Radiology of the Adult Male Lower Urinary Tract. By R. W. MacCallum and V. Colapinto. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1976. 358 pages, 257 illustrations. £24.85.

This book is an important contribution to a field where up to now no monograph has been available. It covers the subject thoroughly in an informative way. The authors have drawn from their extensive experience in investigating the adult male lower urinary tract. The anatomy, physiology, aetiology and pathology of the various disorders are lucidly described. This book will prove to be of great value to those diagnostic radiologists learning and practising in this art. The surgical description will also be of considerable interest, and the combined authorship of a radiologist and a surgeon provides a good balance in the different chapters of the book. The book is well illustrated by radiographs and line drawings. It is regrettable that some of the radiographs have not been reproduced adequately. The authors have provided the reader with an excellent and comprehensive list of references. This book can be strongly recommended to those who practise in this area of diagnostic radiology.

M. D. Sumerling

The Basic Physics of Radiation Therapy, 2nd edn. By Joseph Selman. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois. 742 pages, $25.75.

This is a new edition of a book originally published in 1960. The basic coverage and lay-out is unchanged, though there is some re-arrangement of chapters, most of which have been rewritten. There has been some updating of material right through the book, the most notable changes being a shift of emphasis from conventional (kilovolta~e) to megavoltage radiation, and a new chapter on high LET radiation. The book is designed mainly for radiology residents and for radiotherapy technologists, to use the author's own ter- minology. The range of the subject matter in the book is very wide, starting with chapters on basic mathematics, atomic and nuclear physics and including production and properties of X-rays, dosimetry, beam therapy planning, radioactivity, implant therapy, nuclear medicine, radiobiology and radi- ation protection. The author points out in the preface that he has attempted to make each section complete in itself. In the text key words are set in bold type, and the book is well supplied with clear, simple line diagrams.

Both the strength and weakness of- this book are a consequence of the very wide range of subject matter covered. It is possible to find some explanation of virtually any physical term or idea that arises in radiation therapy with radiation beams or sealed or unsealed radioactive sources but to achieve this wide coverage the explanations have to be fairly superficial. For instance, a transformer is described as

an iron core with two coils wound round it and the relationship between the input and output voltages to the turns ratio is given. There is no explanation of how it works and the rather strange statement that it will only work efficiently on alternating current. The author's aim to make the different sections of the book self contained leads to a good deal of repetition; for example the properties of exponential decay curves are discussed at about the same level of detail in the chapters on mathematics, on radio- activity and on medical use of radionuclides.

This book does not treat the subjects covered in sufficient depth for candidates for the Royal College of Radiologists or Society of Radiographers examinations. On the other hand, it may serve a purpose as a reference book because of its very wide range.

David Greene

Synopsis of Analysis of Roentgen Signs in General Radiology. By lsadore Meschan. W. B. Saunders, Phila- delphia, London, Toronto, 1976. 677 pages, 582 illustrations, £18.75.

I never cease to admire Professor Isadore Meschan's en- thusiasm and tireless drive in producing so many useful textbooks for students in diagnostic radiology, for instance his Atlas o f Anatomy Basic to Radiology. His latest book is a synopsis where material from a previous three-volume text forms 'a compilation and illustration of major roentgen signs in general radiology, their classification and correlation with clinical diagnosis and practice'. Like many other synopses, this one provides the student with standardised notes, which would be useful if he had already acquired extensive knowledge through his reading and training. However, a student at the beginning of his learning could find this book difficult to read and digest. If would be almost impossible for him to form a critical appraisal of the radiological approach to the diagnosis of the various disorders of the different regions of the body. The information has had to be compressed, and inevitably important aspects have been omitted. For example, in Chapter 3 l ('Roentgen Diagnosis of Obstetrics and Gynaecology') no reference is made to ultrasound t echn ique - an important technique in modern practice.

Like other synopses, I suspect that the teacher may find more help from this book in formulating his lectures than the stude.nt who may learn little by reading it and attempting to absorb the contents in this form.

It is irritating to find the names of authors in the text, but have to refer to the original volumes to find the references.

The book is superbly illustrated and is applied with excellent diagrams for which Professor Meschan's texts are so well known.

Michael D. Sumerling