Operative Pediatric Surgery

Abstract

Operative Pediatric Surgery is the latest single volume pediatric surgery textbook on the market. It is innovative as it combines both the attribute of a detailed textbook of pediatric surgical diseases and a pediatric surgery operative atlas. All important pediatric surgical topics are reviewed and most chapters contained diagnostic and treatment algorithms in addition to detailed accounts of the pathophysiology and embryology of diseases. I was impressed by the additional chapters on the history of pediatric surgery, pediatric surgical ethics, and health informatics in pediatric surgery to the conventional chapter headings. There is a chapter dedicated to fetal surgery, and minimally invasive surgery is well incorporated in most topics but also reviewed in more detail in chapters on thoracoscopy and laparoscopy. Unfortunately, those chapters cover only techniques as there are no studies quoted comparing the minimally invasive techniques to the open techniques. This book includes newer procedures into its operative description such as the perianal pullthrough for Hirschsprung's disease and the Nuss procedure for pectus excavatum. This book will be valuable to the pediatric surgical trainee and to experienced pediatric surgeons but may not totally alleviate the need for a separate surgical atlas. I found the book easy to read and the most of the illustrations are of good quality. The book has been priced at $295 dollars which seems reasonable for the quality of this textbook.