CardioRenal Disorders and Diseases

Abstract

longest chapters encompass approximately 25 pages. The strength of the book is in the description of the clinical manifestations of each disease entity. Up-to-date and complete information is provided. Thus, the book is an excellent source of basic knowledge for the medical student, medical resident, or family physician seeking to learn more about rheumatology. The treatment of rheumatic disease is also covered but in a much more general fashion; therefore, this book cannot be used as a how-to manual for determining therapeutic approaches to rheumatic diseases. Although each chapter includes a few selected references that should be helpful to readers, in general the bibliographies are insufficient to serve as a springboard to the literature to pursue specific topics of interest. Even though the book is multiauthored, the participation of the primary authors in the writing of many of the chapters and the thorough job of editing achieve uniformity from chapter to chapter, making the book very readable. The main weakness of the book is in the introductory basic science chapters. These chapters are replete with current information on immunology and provide an excellent summary for someone already knowledgeable in the field. For readers who lack a fundamental knowledge of modern immunology, however, the information will be too complex to be helpful. I highly recommend this book for anyone seeking a good introduction to the field of clinical rheumatology. It is well written, interesting to read, accurate, and current and can be read from cover to cover within a practical time frame.