OCR Text |
Show /olllTlll1 of Cliniazl Neuro-uphtluzlmology 7(2): 121-122, 1987. Book Reviews Human Ophthalmic Pathology By O. A. Jensen. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1986, 192 pp. This brief review provides a nice introduction into the microscopic world of clinical pathology for those medical students interested in ophthalmology, or for the beginning ophthalmology resident. I do not believe this book is intended for the use of advanced opthalmology residents or ophthalmic clinicians pursuing a complete reference and guide to clinical ophthalmic pathology. The organization of the book is broken down into two primary sections. The first is that of general ophthalmic pathology, including a brief review of the history of ophthalmic pathology, a few points on the clinical examination of patients suspected of having ophthalmic pathology, and the preparation of tissues for examination in the laboratory. The second section is a review of systemic ophthalmic pathology, including trauma, neoplasms, inflammation, degeneration, and metabolic disorders. These are further broken down into specific disease processes that affect different tissues of the globe and orbit. The first section of the book, that of general ophthalmic pathology, is a nice introduction for the clinician who is not familiar with the ophthalmic pathology laboratory. In this regard, I believe the author obtained his objective. The initial evaluation of tissue, preparation techniques, and histological stainings are well presented. The presentation of systemic ophthalmiC pathology is where the book leaves a bit to be desired. The discussions of trauma and developmental abnormalities are adequate. However,. the discussion of external lesions, as well as those of internal and orbital lesions, is not as thorough as it could be. Each disease process is presented as a specific brief definition only. The photographs are all black and white and somewhat difficult to orient. The reference to the photographs from the text is confusing, and the numbering system, chosen by the author, is complex. Discussions of clinical cases would certainly be enhanced by the addition of external clinical photographs of the pa- 121 © 1987 Raven Press. New York tient, or gross photographs of the pathology, to aid orientation. I found that many of the micrographs exhibiting classical disease processes, were not in fact "classical." Certainly, any discussion of the corneal dystrophies should include external gross photographs of the corneal pathology. This was not done and is an example of the difficulty in orientation that the novice ophthalmic pathologist may have in reading this text. The.section concerning the principles of treatment of ocular tumors was a nice overview of the general approach to treatment of each specific disease process. However, there are specific recommendations made that would be considered a bit controversial by most ophthalmologists today. There are a few color photomicrographs at the end of the text that are of excellent quality. Unfortunately, they demonstrate more stain technique than specific ophthalmic pathology. It would have been nice to have had this quality of color photomicrograph on the more "classic" presentations of orbital and ocular pathology. In summary, Dr. Jensen has attempted to review his to-year experience of ocular pathology at the Ophthalmology Institute in Copenhagen. This included a total of to,381 cases, 5,927 of which were nonexperimental human cases. I believe he has, in general, achieved the goal of presenting a very brief overview of ophthalmic pathology, including an introduction to laboratory techniques, as well as microscopic clinical appearance of specific disease processes. However, I believe the format, as presented will be somewhat confUSing for the novice ophthalmic pathologist. There are certainly more comprehensive texts, with more typical photOmicrographs of classical disease processes, which may be of greater benefit to the resident training in ophthalmology or the ophthalmic clinician. Bradley K. Farris, M.D. University of Oklahoma College of Medicine Dean A. McGee Eye Institute Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |