David J. Sugarbaker Raphael Bueno Mark J. Krasna Steven J. Mentzer Lambros Zellos Adult Chest Surgery 2009 McGraw-Hill New York City 978-0-07-143414-0 1,264 pp, illustrated, $299.00

Abstract

At one time, surgical textbooks were developed as a compendia of everything related to their specified fields, including history, anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. Although publications of this style still exist (and perforce have had to expand into multiple volumes), other textbooks are being produced at the opposite end of the spectrum. These have gone so far as to provide the majority of their content as bullet points, diagrams, and algorithms, with few, if any, paragraphs of text. Adult Chest Surgery creates a new niche in thoracic surgical texts that lies between these two extremes. This single volume publication covers the breadth of thoracic surgery succinctly, but with sufficient detail, so that it will interest both the novice and the experienced practitioner. Although the book provides sufficient background on anatomy and physiology to enable the reader to understand the rationale for diagnosis and treatment recommendations, the focus is on surgical management and technique. The chapters are generally written by experts in the field, including a large international contingent of authors. The overall flavor is strongly influenced by practice patterns in the Harvard system, especially at Brigham and Women's Hospital, as evidenced by the fact that four of the five editors are at the Brigham, almost 30% of the authors are in the Harvard system, and almost 20% of the authors are at the Brigham. This work has a number of very positive aspects. The illustrations (of which there are more than 600) are one of the strongest features of this text, as befits a book that focuses on surgical treatment and technique. They all share a similar style (ie, clean and informative) and they make excellent use of color. The authors make judicious use of text boxes that summarize important points in disease evaluation and management. As would be expected, the chapters covering topics that are traditionally associated with the editors' interests (ie, lung cancer and pleural mesothelioma, to name a few) are among the strongest contributions. This book was published on the cusp of the introduction of new staging systems for lung cancer and esophageal cancer. The editors were prescient enough to list features of the new lung cancer staging system for this volume. Unfortunately, information about the new esophageal cancer staging system was not available in time for publication, and neither of the systems included in this text are similar to the official new system. Clinical topics that seem to be covered less than one might anticipate include video-assisted thoracic surgical lobectomy, thoracic trauma, and reconstructive alternatives after esophagectomy and after chest wall resection. In contrast to the large surgical tomes, this text eschews long reference lists at the end of the chapters. Instead, the chapters each include a small number of important references, many of which were published as recently as 2007. The absence of frequent reference citations in the text makes reading easier, but those who wish to delve more deeply into topics will need to do their own literature searches to identify relevant additional information. The book has not been designed into an electronic version (formatted either as a CD available with the book or in an online version), a feature that this reviewer hopes will be included in future editions of this book. Overall, this text achieves the editors' goals remarkably well. It will serve as a quick reference for practicing surgeons, as a useful tool for surgeons in training, and as a valuable resource for individuals preparing for board certification or recertification.