Customer Reviews

Current Surgical Therapy: Expert Consult: Online and Print, 9e (Current Therapy)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A must-read to prepare for oral exams, or to quickly review concepts of patient management. The new edition has some significant updates in laparoscopy and trauma care, but has lapsed somewhat in quality. Doesn't replace a good surgical reference like Schwartz, Sabiston, or Greenfield.

I'm disappointed by many errors in this edition. Some chapters have some small errors missed by the editing team. Some chapters are also based on the opinions of individual authors, and may not necessarily reflect the current standard of care. It would have been nice to see some more evidence-based material added. For example, the chapter on laparoscopic CBDE may be applicable to large academic centres, but I don't think it reflects most surgical centres in the world. I would have liked to see a bit more on open CBDE.

Many illustrations are also illegible. This is unacceptable for a reference-level publication. It reflects poorly on the credibility of the publisher and makes me question the rest of the book.

Overall a disappointment. A previous edition supplemented with a quick internet search might offer better information.

Having just read Cameron's 8th edition cover to cover, I was disappointed to find that its follow-up was a downgrade. The paper quality is poorer. Despite the addition of a "Color Section", many of the photos are extremely fuzzy, as if they were taken with one of the first digital cameras ever made. Some of the illustrations are so dark that they appear as just a black splotch on the page (see the ultrasound and CT images of liver cysts). Others are too light (see the image of an Laryngeal Mask Airway). I thought that maybe my copy had just been printed poorly, but the corresponding images online are just as shoddy. I have not read through enough of this edition to be able to compare the text, but surgical residents should heed Dr. Cameron's caveat that the treatments described in this book reflect the individual practices of doctors who have been recognized as experts in their respective fields. I can only hope that the tenth edition, scheduled to arrive in 2011, will be an improvement upon its predecessor, especially in the graphics department.

In the modern era of textbooks, more and more are making online copies of the textbook available. Cameron's Current Surgical Therapy is keeping with the times and has chosen Expert Consult to carry their electronic version. There are obvious security concerns to protect against unauthorized access; however, Expert Consult is one of the slowest, most cumbersome, and lease reliable websites available.

The book only loads in small sections at a time on the website, often requiring a new page to load after only reading a single paragraph. On the other extreme, some of the sections that load in large blocks of text take so long to read that the website has logged you out by the time you finish reading it, requiring that you log out, log back in, then find where you left off. Also, for anyone thinking they could easily load and read this on their iPad, think again. It only highlights the slow loading webpages.

The book itself is alright, although the editing often leaves large amounts of redundancy within sections and does not always group concepts appropriately.

Overall Impression - Be ready to haul around the actual textbook to get the most out of this as the Expert Consult website is the most disappointing aspect of this book.

Online code was used and the description of this is not fully disclosed unless you read the complete description, when many other sellers have the codes available for the same price. Beware when buying textbooks, specially heavyweights to have online codes intact. Price should be significantly less if code is used.

Superb textbook in terms of content. HOWEVER,,,,,,,,within 48 hours of reading, the binding began to fall apart. I would assume this was a bad copy if not for the fact that copy held in our surgical residents library has also fallen apart completely. I have all the major general surgical textbooks from 'Mastery of Surgery' to Schwartz and none of them have significantly deteriorated despite extensive use. This is unacceptable for a book with a retail of $150. Am contacting the publisher and amazon to discuss this issue further.

I'm not sure why anyone would consider this a substitute for a surgical text book. This book is meant to be a supplement to material one already knows. The point here is not an exhaustive coverage of general surgery. This is not meant to be a singular resource for residency. This is meant to refine one's decision making, which it does wonderfully. If you have a surgical text book, than this supplements it well by giving excellent discussions on key points in surgical care. If you don't have a surgical text book, you need one or else you will be quickly lost with this book. The online access allows one to download chapters from anywhere. The chapters are short and very dense, making it easy to read several in a busy day.

I found this book invaluable not only as a fast, reliable reference for my daily practice but also an invaluable tool to prepare for my oral boards. I believe this book is the MAIN reason why i passed and i felt very well prepared after reading it cover to cover. It has very sensible and accepted management strategies for different aspects covered on the orals. It is the true "Safe answers for the Boards". Forget the other publication with that title which proves to be outdated and misleading. Higly recommended.

there are many great reviews here about this book, i totally agree with all what have been said, its a must if ur a surgeon , not recommended at all for undergraduates (greenfield is my number 1 for undergraduates as a reference textbook ), the book provides the real experience and the guidelines together (which a rigorous book like Schwartz lacks) , however my take on the book, is there is no coverage for organ transplant which is getting more and more popular every day, and ur chances of seeing a patient who had an organ transplant either for a problem related to his organ or a secondary problem are much higher, the vascular chapter is a bit confusing but overall a valuable book that bridges the gap between the knowledge and the experience

I strongly recommend this book for a senior resident who will set for the final general surgical board exam.
it contains the contraversal therapy of difrent surgical disease and the safe answer approach to the patients management during exam.

ya! it is expensive .. yet itu is a must book for all surgeons who would keep their surgical knowledge ..