Customer Reviews

Inflammatory Dermatopathology: A Pathologist's Survival Guide

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

 

 

***** Highly recommended, especially for practicing general pathologists!

Dr. Billings truly understands how intimidating dermatoses can be to the uninitiated - or even to the seasoned general pathologist. From the Preface:

'When I was a first year resident, I emerged from my first dermatopathology conference with only one thought in mind: I would never study dermatopathology. It was all too confusing. Everything looked alike, and the terminology was impenetrable. ... So why this book? Probably because I keep running into residents and practicing pathologists who have the same reaction I had when I first encountered the subspecialty of dermatopathology. ... Dermatopathology is hard, but not as hard as it is made out to be. ...' (p. vii)

Truly a survival guide, it is a very practical and slim tome that gives you the essentials for a methodical approach to the daunting and confusing field of inflammatory dermatoses, based on the overall reaction pattern (spongiotic, psoriasiform, and perivascular dermatitis, etc.). While that may not be such a unique tack to take these days, the addition of sample reports at the end of each chapter certainly is! This feature gives general pathologists a very helpful template for formulating the diagnosis line, and the comment that includes a brief microscopic description and a discussion of differential diagnoses as related to any clinical information. With a very lucid, organized, and efficient writing style, this book has proven to be an invaluable resource for my daily dose of dermpath dermatoses. The authors' aim was to 'demystify inflammatory dermatopathology' - and they have greatly helped to accomplish thus with this guide.

Thank you, Dr. Billings and Dr. Cotton, for making such a wonderfully helpful dermpath book available at last!

This book provides a surprisingly concise, practical, easy-to-understand, and logical approach to learning the notoriously confusing and difficult subject that is inflammatory derm. It is great as both an introductory text for the novice resident, because it provides a basic framework on how to approach skin biopsies, as well as the seasoned pathologist, who may be a bit intimidated to sign out anything that isn't a neoplasm. In addition to providing practical tips, the book also contains numerous examples of reports - a feature that is incredibly helpful when, often more times than not, the findings are non-specific and can be seen in a variety of settings. Overall, an excellent resource and highly recommended!