Abstract
This book written by an academic neuroradiologist. The first section covers the anatomy of the spine with some high-quality illustrations. There follows a useful description of the embryological development of the spine, with reference to the importance of this process in how congenital abnormalities may occur. Then there follows a series of potential disease processes which include a tabulated description and a series of high-quality images. The text is principally in tables, which include the imaging findings and comments covering the background disease.
This is a very useful bench book that you might use to look up abnormalities found in radiological practice. It might alternatively be used to review your knowledge of the diseases involving the spine. A limitation is that diseases are described in the comment section of tables without a substructure to this part of the text.
The reference list at the end of the book usefully divides by disease with a concise but more than adequate list of key references. In these days of easy access to Medline databases, this is a particularly helpful means of presentation.
Production quality is a high standard with good reproduction of images, solid hardback and high-quality paper. The book is a pleasure to read.
I have some minor criticisms. I would have liked to see a few more diagrams to illustrate some of the abnormalities; it is not always easy to appreciate the findings on the MRI images alone.
This book will be most useful to those working in spine practice, especially if they are outside a large unit where they have limited access to colleagues with specialist knowledge. It should be of use to the more advanced resident, particularly when they are working in neuroradiological or spine imaging service. Established practitioners may wish to use it as a reference book and as a means of showing younger colleagues examples of the disease that they are discussing.
I recommend this publication to those of you involved in spine imaging practice.