Abstract
In the foreword of this textbook, Professor emeritus Eberhart Stennert claims that there is no other functional system of the human body that is challenged by as many diseases as the salivary glands. According to WHO statistics, the parotid gland alone is affected by a total of 15 types of benign and 24 types of malignant epithelial tumors, one type of soft-tissue tumor, and three types of hemato-lymphoid tumors. These diseases are relatively rare, but for those patients affected, the diseases often have a severe impact on quality of life, and for some they may even become life-threatening.
Edited by Professor emeritus Patrick Bradley from Nottingham University Hospitals, UK, and Orlando Guintinas-Lichius, Professor at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany, the book gives an excellent introduction to the complexity of salivary gland diseases. The long list of contributors contains 52 names including two radiologists, Professor Minerva Becker of Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland and Jane Luker of Bristol Dental Hospital, UK.
The book is divided into six sections: Anatomy and evaluation, Pediatric disorders, Physiological disorders, Benign salivary gland neoplasm, Malignant salivary gland neoplasm, and Other topics. Each section has its own color mapping, which makes it easy to get an overview over the sections. Chapter 7 of the first section is by Minerva Becker. “Evaluation of Salivary Gland Imaging” describes the different modalities by indication, technique, contraindications, advantages, and disadvantages. Each chapter ends with a key-point list, concluding the chapter.
Salivary Gland Disorders and Diseases covers the full spectrum of infectious, inflammatory, acute, chronic, benign, and malignant diseases of the salivary glands. The illustrations are of a very high quality, and both the color images and the radiological images are easily read. The figures and tables help the reader to get a good overview of the different chapters. The radiological illustrations are well described, but I miss a discussion on modality choices in specific cases.
Having in mind that this is a no imaging textbook, the book is recommended to everybody who is interested in getting a better overview over salivary gland diseases.