Abstract
Anyone involved in teaching radiology, either in an undergraduate or CPD scenario, will find it easy to agree with the introduction to this book, which states that a good basic knowledge of radiographic anatomy is an essential prerequisite for radiographic interpretation. Despite the importance of radiography as a clinical tool, it is perhaps surprising that a century after veterinarians started using Roentgen's rays to examine dogs and cats, there is still a need for more radiographic anatomy teaching resources.
Coulson and Lewis's textbook represents animportant step towards satisfying this need. It is more comprehensive than its competitors, being a collection of over 500 radiographs, most with accompanying line diagrams by Jonathan Clayton-Jones. These are divided into skeletal system (limbs, skull, vertebrae, ribs and sternum), soft tissue (pharynx and larynx, thorax, abdomen) and contrast radiography (alimentary, urinary, mvelography) of dogs and cats. It includes series of radiographs showing skeletal development, examples of chondrodystrophoid dogs, canine and feline skulls of differing shape and miscellaneous variations, such as inspiratory versus expiratory thorax, the fat versus thin abdomen, multipartite sesamoid bones and the double first digit of the Pyrenean mountain dog. Nearly all the standard radiographic projections are illustrated plus a few uncommon views, such as the flexed dorsoplantar view of the tarsus to examine the sustentaculum tali. The figures and legends are generously laid out, leaving plenty of space for notes. The line diagrams are simple but effective, the illustrator making a deliberate effort to avoid the mistake of the hopelessly overcomplicated explanatory diagram (as seen in another well-known radiographic anatomy book). Readers of this journal will wish to know that the cat is well represented, occupying roughly 30% of the book and, if anything, the feline radiographs are on average slightly better than those of the dogs.
It is the job of a reviewer to find fault and, inevitably for such a big book that relies upon reproduction of radiographs, there are faults. A few radiographs lack contrast, many of the radiographs of juvenile limbs are excessive grainy and there are several scratched films in the canine skull section. Retouching is visible in a few radiographs. The intravenous urograms are insipid and the canine oesophagram is poor. The review copy contained several creased pages, which presumably reflects a problem in manufacture. There are also a few errors of anatomy or terminology. The caudoventral mediastinal reflection is mislabelled as the phrenicopericardial ligament. Azygos is misspelled. The authors allude to a cardiac waist, although there is no such structure visible in the corresponding radiographs or accompanying diagrams. Typical signs of otitis media in one of the feline skull radiographs appear to have gone unnoticed. It is frustrating to read that the variations in feline cardiac silhouette that are illustrated may have been the result of cardiomyopathy—why were they included if there is some uncertainty about their normality?
Although annoying, these deficiencies are heavily outnumbered by the excellent, clearly explained radiographs, which make this book a welcome addition to the literature. I was pleased to receive this book for review and I am sure I will use it frequently. Furthermore I recommend it to any veterinarian studying for a postgraduate qualification in radiology and to any veterinarian who has recently looked at a radiograph of a dog or cat and wondered, “Is that normal?”