Paediatric Surgery (2nd edn).

Abstract

This is the second edition of a well-respected and popular textbook. The editors establish their primary aim in the preface – to provide trainees in paediatric surgery with a textbook that will cover their requirements for both training and preparation for specialist examinations such as the UK intercollegiate and Australasian fellowships. This aim is achieved. The opening section deals with ‘General Principles of Care’, ranging from chapters on the congenital causes of disease, general basic sciences and related specialties such as paediatric anaesthesia and radiology. In addition, this section covers increasingly important contemporary topics including the ‘Child and Law’, and ‘Communication Skills’. Thereafter, the breakdown follows the standard subspecialty areas of paediatric surgery but the book also very wisely includes a section on the ‘General Surgery of Infancy and Childhood’, which will immediately broaden this book's appeal to the general surgeon who operates on children and to the many other professionals involved in the care of children with surgical conditions. Reflecting the target audience's requirements, each chapter is prefaced with learning objectives. The basic sciences relevant to the clinical subject are included and most chapters finish with clinical scenarios. While these features are to be highly commended, the clinical scenarios, in particular, might be usefully extended into clinical management algorithms, which would enable senior trainees to develop the powers of higher order thinking that are key to success in the modern style ‘exit’ FRCS examination. Criticisms are few. The colour plates are grouped together in the centre of the book, no doubt in an effort to contain costs. However, this does reduce their pertinence to the related text. In addition, the spectrum of illustrations seemed slightly disparate, including a page devoted to the stages of healing burns, which in most centres are the responsibility of plastic rather than paediatric surgeons. A reasonably comprehensive appraisal of the recent literature is not included in many chapters and longer reference lists would be helpful. The index appears comprehensive but some anomalies are present. For instance, cystic hygroma (lymphangioma) is included in two separate sections, which take diametrically opposed approaches to the treatment of these rare tumours. Furthermore, one of the sections is not even indexed. In a slightly similar vein, my specialist registrar who co-wrote the excellent chapter on congenital diaphragmatic hernia was delighted to discover that she had suddenly received a chair! These relatively minor quibbles aside, this book can be highly recommended for the target audience and others such as the general surgeon who operates on children, paediatricians and other healthcare professionals involved in the care of children with surgical conditions.