Book Reviews

Russ JC. "The Image Processing Handbook" ed 2. (Hardbound; 674 pages; Approx. US$ 90.00; ISBN 0-8493-2516-1), Boca Raton: CRC Press; 1995

For those who are not familiar with the first edition, it should be noted that this book covers digital image theory in general, and is equally applicable for the radiologist, microscopist or photographer - in fact anyone who examines images.

This is a much expanded and improved version of the excellent first edition which was published in 1992. It includes completely new sections on printing and storage, and on image measurement. The previous chapter on tomography is now subsumed within the sections on 3D image acquisition and 3D image visualization .

Each of the chapters is updated. The quality of illustrations is improved over the previous edition by use of better contrast levels and the juditious addition of color to clarify certain graphs. Rather than separating color plates as was the case for the earlier version, the second edition places the color illustrations in sequence with the text. The new chapter on printing and storage adds significant information concerning image compression, both JPEG and wavelet.

This book should be on the desk (not merely in the library!) of every Dento Maxillo Facia l Radiologist. It is a "must buy "

Huda W, S1one R. "Review of Radiologic Physics" (Softbound; 286 pages; ISBN 0-683-04230-0) . Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1995

The authors are the Director of Medical Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, and a diagnostic radiologisr from the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St Louis. Their book has chapters on basic physics, X ray production, Interaction of radiation and matter, radiation detection and measurement, screen/film radiography, fluoroscopy, computed tomography, nuclear medicine, radiation protection, ultrasound, magnetic resonance , mammography and statistics. This review is intended as a comprehensive review for the physics portion of the American Board of Radiology, but its contents are almost all applicable for Dento Maxillo Facial Radiologists, especially those preparing for Board Certification. Each chapter is presented as "lecture notes" and is ended with a comprehensive examination. There is much that could be used in outlines for courses delivered to students of our specialty, to dentists and to allied dental personnel. The book also includes a detailed glossary of terms. The index 1s surprisingly complete.

In conclusion, this little book is highly recommended as an ready source of ideas for lecture preparation and examination questions for those in academe, and as a review for those seeking Board Certification.

Campbell MJ, Hachin D. "Medical Statistics: A Commonsense Approach" ed 2. (Softbound; US$ 29.95; 189 pages; ISBN 0-471-93764-9). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons; 1993

Appropriately, the first chapter covers uses and abuses of medical statistics. The authors point out that while most practitioners do not carry out research, they are consumers of such research if they pride themselves with keeping up to date. This is followed by chapters on design, probability and decision making, data description, from sample to polulation, statistical inference, correlation and 1inear regression, the randomised controlled trial , designed observational studies, and common pitfalls. The actual techniques are detailed in first appendix. The second appendix contains multiple choice questions.

This is a clearly written introduction to medical statistics, and a valuable review. As an editor, I wish that many of the authors submitting papers involving statistical analysis would read this book to be more informed when discussing research design and statistical analyses with their statiscians.

Nager GT. "Pathology of the Ear and Temporal Bone" (Hardbound; 1341 pages; ISBN 0-683-6304-9) . Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1993

This comprehensive tome provides a good overview of pathoses affecting the ear and temporal bone. It correlates clinical, pathological and radiologic features. The imaging techniques employed are essentially the same as those commonly used in Dento Maxillo Facial Radiology and provide insights into pathoses that could be detected by our specialty to provide timely referral to the appropriate discipline for final diagnosis and treatment. Many cases that are presented are useful training for Dento Maxillo Facial Radiologists. This is a book to recommend to your institutions library - a reference to use periodically .

Ireland SJ. "Integrated Mathematics of Radiographic Exposure" 1st ed. St Louis: Mosby, 1994 (Softback; 156 pages; US$ 19.95; ISBN 0-8151-4834-8)

This slim volume is directed primarily towards training radiologic technologists. It proposed an integrated system of radiographic mathematics, approaching one technical factor at a time. The book is methodical in its explanations, none of which expect any prior knowledge of even the simplest formula. Hence, this can be used for providing useful tips in preparing lectures and exercises for dental auxiliaries and preliminary seminar/laboratory courses for dental students. It is too simplistic to be a reference other than for the above mentioned uses.

Carty H, Shaw D, Brunelle F, Kendall B (editors). 'Imaging Children' 1st ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 1994 (Hardback; 2 volumes; l873 pages exluding I65 page comprehensive Index; US$ 350.00; ISBN 0-443-04260-8)

This encyclopedia of diagnostic imaging and radiologic diagnosis for children contains contributions from 30 experts, largely from the United Kingdom and France. Carty briefly covers lesions of the salivary gland and tongue within her section on imaging the non-neonatal gastrointestinal tract (pp 303-7), the remainder of volume 1 contains little material of interest to the Oral and Maxillofacial Radiologist. Very little is presented in terms of maxillofacial imaging features of endocrine disease.

By way of comparison, volume 2 contains much more information of interest to ; the discipline of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology. The section on the musculoskeletal system is more than 450 pages long and provides a wealth of information on congenital abnormalities in particular. Useful information concerning the skull, the pituitary gland and facial trauma also appear in the section on the central nervous system. There are also separate chapters on the orbit; ear, nose and throat; and dental radiology - the latter being written by Renton, a medical radiologist at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, London. In general, the section on dental radiology is nicely presented and covers developmental disorders of the dentition quite well. It is otherwise quite superficial as can be expected when a whole discipline is restricted to slightly more than 40 pages. The dental radiology section is weak in terms of lack of up-to-date references to the literature. The list of odontogenic tumors presented is far from complete. On the other hand, there is much information of interest to Maxillofacial Radiology elsewhere in volume 2.

This work could be a useful reference; however, one would need to constantly use the index is the pertinent Information is spread out in various sections. Whether it is worth the relatively high price is questionable for someone who is not specifically a pediatric radiologist.

Allan G Farman

Valvassori GE, Mafee MF, Carter BL. "Imaging of the Head and Neck" (Hard cover; 548 pages; Illustrations-1700. Price 199.00.ISBN 0-86577-549-4) . New York: Thieme Medical Publishers, 1995

This textbook is a follow-up of the book, Head and Neck Imaging. New chapters cover the orbit, mandible and applications of ultrasound in diagnosing head and neck pathology. The contents are explained in great detail in the front of the book, making it easy to find whatever is covered in the book.

Imaging is a pictorial science and a textbook on this subject must contain many views uthzing different modalities. This book certainly fulfills these requirements with liberal use of CT, MRI, ultrasound and where required, sonography. Each section first shows anatomic views (and views of anatomic anomalies where applicable) and then follows with the pathology of the region.

The chapter on Serial CT Sections has images adjacent to of the skull that are clearly labelled and will be a great help in learning the anatomy and the imaging anatomy in detail. Throughout the book there are explanatory detailed, labelled diagrams adjacent to images, making it easy to learn from this book.

The refinement of MR imaging techniques, shorter acquisition times and thinner slices, have enabled the development of magnetic resonance angiography allowing for the non-invasive assessment of blood vessels of the neck and the circle of Willins and this aspect is covered shortly but clearly in this book.

The sections on paranasal sinuses, oral cavity and salivary glands are covered in great detail. The neck area is discussed under infra-hyoid and suprahyoid chapters. Unfortunately the section on the mandible is not covered as well. This book is involved to a great extend in the more advanced radiographic modalities and thus cannot be faulted for not covereing dental subjects tha can be clearly visualized on intra-oral radiographs.

This book possibly covers too vast a field, resulting in a great textbook but one that may be too expensive for many people. Nevertheless, everyone involved with the imaging of the head and neck area can benefit from this book.

Neil Serman