Systemic Diseases and the Eye. Signs and Differential Diagnosis

Abstract

Jack Kanski Systemic Diseases and the Eye. Signs and Differential Diagnosis249 pagesMosby, International Ltd, 2001 ISBN 0 7234 3216 3 Price: $82.95 Nowadays, more and more ophthalmologists specialize in certain narrow fields of ophthalmology and, therefore, may have lost touch with the general systemic problems that might be associated with a patient's concurrent ocular disorder. On the other hand, general practitioners and non-ophthalmological specialists are not often familiar with ocular diseases. The purpose of Kanski's book is to provide an easy way of helping both ophthalmologists and residents in ophthalmological clinics, as well as general physicians and other non-ophthalmologists, to increase their knowledge of the associations between ocular signs and systemic disorders, and between extraocular signs and ocular manifestations. Understanding of these associations speeds up the correct diagnosis and/or the decision to refer the patient to an appropriate specialist. The book is divided into three parts, which the author recommends should be read sequentially. The first part (52 pages) deals with various ocular signs and findings in the different structures of the eye, as well as with certain ocular diseases and their connections with most important extraocular disorders, systemic diseases and syndromes. In the second part (50 pages), the author approaches his goal from a non-ophthalmologist's point of view and describes signs and diseases in different parts of the body and its organs, pointing out the respective associated ocular disorders. In the third part (114 pages), the author connects the aspects of the first and the second part of the book and summarizes both the systemic and ocular signs of the diseases mentioned earlier in the book. Each of the three parts begins with a comprehensive table of contents, even a short look at which gives the reader some suggestions of the causes of the patient's problem. The book is abundantly illustrated, with a total of 260 pictures, most of which are instructive. The lay-out of the book is rather incoherent, despite the use of icons and headings in different fonts and colours. The logic of the selection of the ocular and systemic diseases presented is not self-evident to the reader: some of the diseases are very common, but many of the disorders and syndromes are extremely rare. The main purpose is possibly to use the book's format of short sections of text and pictures to provide the clinician with quick suggestions as to where the diagnostic work-up of the patient could be directed. It is a book for diagnostic and differential diagnostic first aid, while more comprehensive knowledge of a particular disease and its treatment must be found elsewhere, such as in textbooks. However, the book makes a welcome addendum to the libraries of both ophthalmologists and general practitioners.