Customer Reviews

Basic and Clinical Pharmacology

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The content of this book is well-suited to my needs. Although it is smaller (and much less expensive) than Goodman and Gillman's, it usually contains at least the level of detail that I am looking for, and sometimes more. When things I need to know are not covered, I look to research articles and reviews in the literature to find what I need, because they are generally the kinds of things that are not covered in any of the pharmacology textbooks. I am sure that for some it does pay off to have a fatter pharmacology reference on hand, but for me Katzung's Basic and Clinical Pharmacology has been a great choice.

This text is required at my medical school. The text is dense and unapproachable, but that isn't my main complaint-the organization is TERRIBLE. One drug can be covered in multiple different chapters, but none of the chapters really have a great description! For example, B blockers are covered under "Autonomic Drugs", "Anti-Hypertensive Agents", and "Heart Failure Drugs"... just for starters! Anywhere you can use a B blocker, there's a separate discussion. Just give me ONE chapter on B blockers that actually talks about all of their uses!
If you do have to use this awful book, be advised that the first section of each chapter is a review of the pertinent physiology. If you need to go over this again to understand how the drugs will act, then use your favorite physio book, not Katzung.

There are many good things to say about this text. It is through, has great cross-references, and is relatively cheap. Sadly, however, that is pretty much where the positive ends and the negative begins.

As has been said before, the orgainzation is pretty terrible. No one section fully covers all they want to say about a particular drug, and most medical schools present it in a different fashion. I spend half my time flipping around finding the relevant section about which I want to read.

Also, is it too much to ask that medical textbooks be properly bound? A flimsy paperback with cheap binding simply won't stand up to the rigors of lugging this book back and forth to class every day.

Not Recommended.

The is a review of a pharmacy student. Unfortunately, this is a required text for my medchem/pharmacology class. You can ask any student in my class and majority of us would have the same complaint. This book is extremely difficult to follow. For example they give you a table for alpha and beta adrenergic receptors. While the table is more or less OK describing different beta receptor types, it doesn't tell much about alpha receptors. The authors of this omit a lot of important details. They don't write much about medications' side effects. In general this book makes it difficult to distinguish medications of each group from each other. On the better side, the book provides a lot of chemical structures, which make medchem part easier.

This book is everything a physician needs. It's the most comprehensive and almost detailed book available on Pharmacology after G & G, It is a really great purchase.

First, I am NOT a physician; my graduate degrees are in Business and Finance. I struggled to some extent to understand this book. However, it makes more sense everyday. There is much information in this book that you glean without any background in the sciences.

In the year that I have been using this book it has covered every drug that I researched. From my perspective that book appears to be exhaustive in its content.

This book is subdivided as follows:

BASIC PRINCIPLES
1. Introduction
2. Drug Receptors & Pharmacodynamics
3. Pharmacokinetics & Pharmacodynamics
4. Drug Biotransformation
5. Basic & Clinical Evaluation of New Drugs

AUTONOMIC DRUGS
6. Introduction to Autonomic Pharmacology
7. Cholinoceptor-Activating & Cholinesterase-Inhibiting Drugs
8. Cholinoceptor-Blocking Drugs
9. Adrenoceptor-Activating & Other Sympathomimetic Drugs
10. Adrenoceptor Antagonist Drugs

CARDIOVASCULAR-RENAL DRUGS
11. Antihypertensive Agents
12. Vasodilators & the Treatment of Angina Pectoris
13. Drugs Used in Heart Failure
14. Agents Used in Cardiac Arrhythmias
15. Diuretic Agents

DRUGS WITH IMPORTANT ACTIONS ON SMOOTH MUSCLES
16. Histamine, Serotonin & Ergot Alkaloids
17. Vasoactive Peptides
18. The Eicosanoids: Prostaglandins, Thromboxanes, Leukotrienes & Related Compounds
19. Nitric Oxide, Donors & Inhibitors
20. Drugs Used in Asthma

DRUGS THAT ACT IN THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
21. Introduction to the Pharmacology of CNS Drugs
22. Sedative-Hypnotic Drugs
23. The Alcohols
24. Antiseizure Drugs
25. General Anesthetics
26. Local Anesthetics
27. Skeletal Muscle Relaxants
28. Pharmacologic Management of Parkinsonism & Other Movement Disorders
29. Antipsychotic Agents & Lithium
30. Antidepressant Agents
31. Opioid Analgesic & Antagonists
32. Drugs of Abuse

DRUGS USED TO TREAT DISEASES OF THE BLOOD, INFLAMMATION & GOUT
33. Agents Used in Anemias: Hematopoietic Growth Factors
34. Drugs Used in Disorders of Coagulation
35. Agents Used in Hyperlipidemia
36. Nonsteriodal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs, Nonopioid Analgesics & Drugs Used in Gout

ENDOCRINE DRUGS
37. Hypothalamic & Pituitary Hormones
38. Thyroid & Antithyroid Drugs
39. Adrenocorticosteroids & Adrenocortical Antagonists
40. The Gonadal Hormones & Inhibitors
41. Pancreatic Hormones & Antidiabetic Drugs
42. Agents That Affect Bone Mineral Homeostasis

CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC DRUGS
43. Beta-Lactam Antibiotics & Other Inhibitors of Cell Wall Synthesis
44. Chloramphenicol, Tetracyclines, Macrolides, Clindamycin & Streptogramins
45. Aminoglycosides & Spectinomycin
46. Sulfonamides, Trimethoprim & Quinolones
47. Antimycobacterial Drugs
48. Antifungal Agents
49. Antiviral Agents
50. Miscellaneous Antimicrobial Agents: Disinfectants, Antiseptics & Sterilants
51. Clinical Use of Antimicrobial Agents
52. Basic Principles of Antiparasitic Chemotherapy
53. Antiprotozoal Drugs
54. Clinical Pharmacology of the Anthelminitc Drugs
55. Cancer Chemotherapy
56. Immunopharmacology

TOXICOLOGY
57. Introduction to Toxicology: Occupational & Environmental
58. Heavy Metal Intoxication & Chelators
59. Management of the Poisoned Patient

SPECIAL TOPICS
60. Special Aspects of Perinatal & Pediatric Pharmacology
61. Special Aspects of Geriatric Pharmacology
62. Dermatologic Pharmacology
63. Drugs Used in the Treatment of Gastrointestinal Diseases
64. Therapeutic & Toxic Potential of Over-the-Counter Agents
65. Botanicals & Nutritional Supplements
66. Rational Prescribing & Prescription Writing

Appendix I: Vaccine, Immune Globulins & Other Complex Biologic Products
Appendix II: Important Drug Interactions & Their Mechanisms

I purchased this book so that I would know what medications were doing within the body. I am not one of those people that want to rely on others to give me accurate information regarding the health of people that are important to me.

I do not believe that this book is for everyone. But, if you want to understand what specific medications do, what they interact with, and to some extent what lifestyle changes you can make to reduce the problems the medications are treating, this is a excellent reference.

I highly recommend this book for people that are very serious about understanding the medications that are being prescribed for them and their loved ones.

I threw this book in a bonfire after I discovered Goodman. Painful to read. Manages to be short on detail and current developments (buy Goodman if you want either) and yet somehow wordy and full of information you don't need. Horribly edited. If you wan't something concise buy Lippencott's review (though the info is a bit dated).

Was and is a great reference for 95% of drugs, but this is an older editon, so granted it's super, cheap, and worth it since most medications are here, but for the latest get the newest edition. A great addition for a student if taking pharmacology or as a professional reference. However, with the internet whatever you need is just as easily accesible on most search engines.

This is an excellent book to use in medical school pharmacology courses. It then continues to be a great resource afterward. The text is easy to read and understand. One note, is that this is available on-line now through many schools, so before you purchase this, be sure that you don't have access to a free copy.

This book is a good one, but has one little problem, the book doesn't have much coherence because there are too many people writting the book. You can note the difference of redaction between the chapters because were written for different person and that's what make the book very difficult to read, because one chapters are good, but others are very bad.
I prefer a book written by a few person because are much clear.