14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Long awaited, May 27, 2006
This review is from: Breast Imaging: Case Review Series (Paperback)
This "Case Review Series" installment was a close call, barely making it in time for the oral boards in 2006. . . but perhaps they shouldn't have hurried so much.
The pictures are small, and this is not entirely necessary. Plenty of real estate on the image pages goes unused. Maybe that's not strong enough. . . . they're tiny and often non-diagnostic. Maybe it should come with a magnifying glass?
The opening portion of the book spends far too much time on QC, a subject that reportedly does not come up frequently on oral boards. The first few cases are a bit self-congratulatory, possibly overstating the wonderfulness of breast imaging. The text is otherwise comprehensive, however, covering the essentials as well as some more esoteric entities.
The old-fashioned convention of displaying mammo films backwards (you'll see what I mean as you try to figure out the first cases) needs to stop. There is no shiny side on digital images, and this is simply the way things are going. Hang the films (and compose the images in the text) anatomically, as the ABR does on the oral boards, with the right breast on the patient's right side.
There are numerous spelling mistakes, which are similarly baffling. Doesn't anybody proof-read these publications? I understand that the word "granulomateous" might cause problems with any spell checker (p. 48) and "peduculated" masses (p. 46) might not be on the tip of MS Word's spellchecker tongue. Dutch readers (and this is important, because confusing spelling is terrible for the many non-native speakers who buy these books) will get a chuckle out of "macro*lul*ated" (p. 52). I'll let you look that up. The word "pathognomonic" even gets spelled three different ways in this text. I'll let you find them.
Fun aside, don't these texts get read by Physicians/professionals prior to release? I've noticed this to be a problem with other installments of the Case Review Series, some of which really seem slapped together. I could understand if these were roll-your-own $12.00 self-published guides (maybe what we really need?) but this book cost over $40.00 and has a glossy shiny cover, multiple authors and a "Series Editor". We're talking about a large chunk of a Resident's daily salary. Don't we deserve better?
Finally, why do these books spend their first 14 pages telling you how great the series is and how wonderful all of their helpers, residents, medical students and progeny are. It starts to sound like a night at the Oscars. It also makes you resentful when you are underwhelmed by the actual text that follows. More time on development, less on writing yet another foreward.
Anyhow, truth is, they've got you over a barrel. You'll buy this book because you're scared, you don't have anything else to review and other review books are even more hideously expensive (I also own Uwe Fischer's book). I did buy this and would probably again. It is more than adequate. . . Be kind and hand-it-down to a 3rd year after you get your scores.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Moderately helpful, February 12, 2007
This review is from: Breast Imaging: Case Review Series (Paperback)
As mentioned in the prior review, the pictures are small and the findings can be difficult to see. I also agree that there is too much quality control in the first section -- I wish I had the time I spent on that back. The book seems to emphasize discussion over case recognition, which wasn't what I was hoping for. Then again, a fair amount of mammography is how you manage a finding, so maybe that is okay. Although there is room for improvement, this is as good a book as I could find, is a reasonable length, and is relatively affordable. I will supplement with web-based teaching files.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2.0 out of 5 stars
Images inadequate, March 24, 2011
This review is from: Breast Imaging: Case Review Series (Paperback)
While I find the texts quite comprehensive the images are a disaster. You are expected to see microcalcifications on these not very high resolution and small images (sometimes the calcifications span few pixels in the print). The spot view, higher magnification is given on the next page with the solution. That is mostly useless, they should put them with the original images - or provide indeed a magnifying glass. Any internal board review hot seat does it better by providing magnification views for the question. And not with the answer.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
