Organ Transplantation [Hardcover]

Leo C. Ginns MD (Editor), A. Benedict Cosimi (Editor), Peter J. Morris MB PhD FRS (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0865425205 | ISBN-13: 978-0865425200

Transplantation is the first comprehensive, single-volume reference devoted to organ and tissue transplantation. Edited by three outstanding clinicians with contributions from over fifty international experts this exciting new book covers all dimensions of the transpantation process, from basic immunology and immunosuppresssion, through donor management and inividual organ transplant techniques and complications. Special brief commentaries offer colourful editorial comments on many selected chapters, providing multidimensional views of a given issue. For all those involved in the medical and surgical aspects of organ transplants, Transplantation serves as the most current, complete an authoritative resource available.

Editorial Reviews

From The New England Journal of Medicine

This is a massive work, an encyclopedia of transplantation. There may never be a need for another book on transplantation. Nearly every word written about transplantation is found in this book or in its lists of references. Every conceivable avenue of the subject is explored fully and in considerable detail. To paraphrase Voltaire, however: a caution for the author determined to teach is that the best way to be boring is to omit nothing.

Russell's foreword is a beautiful synthesis of the subject, from the very beginning of transplantation research to the possibility of growing organs from stem cells -- partial humans, as it were. It is followed by Hamilton's chapter on the quest for tissue replacement, certainly one of the best historical perspectives ever written. Prominent in this chapter is a photograph of transplantation pioneers at the 1974 David M. Hume Memorial Symposium. Lower stands out as the only participant wearing a white coat; perhaps he wore it to underline Hume's dedication to patient care.

Several chapters deal splendidly with basic science as it applies to transplantation. Following these are somewhat belabored chapters on immunosuppression, with the exception of that by Calne, who makes an essentially cameo appearance. His two-page treatment of azathioprine is a welcome departure from the more lengthy discussions of other immunosuppressant strategies.

Discussions of techniques for organ preservation precede chapters that are dedicated to the transplantation of specific organs, most with separate attention to pediatric transplantation. In several well-written chapters, complications of and systemic considerations related to organ transplantation tend to bind together all aspects of transplantation. Infection and neoplastic complications deserve and receive special emphasis.

The chapter by Ginns and Wain on pulmonary transplantation mentions lobar transplants from living donors, a relatively new approach to the problem of the scarcity of donor organs. The two hottest areas in transplantation -- genetic engineering and xenografting -- are treated with cautious optimism. Finally, transplantation as it affects society and its now considerable bureaucracy are nicely presented.

Two features of this book stand out and should be mentioned. Most chapters, which in essence are miniature books, are followed by a so-called commentary by another expert in the field, who in most cases does not offer a contrary opinion. If one read only the commentaries, one would still be well exposed to the subject. The second noteworthy feature is a collection of 42 beautiful color plates of images from transplant pathology and various other areas in this field.

This book is a great reference source for libraries and transplantation services. It is probably not needed on the bookshelf of the individual clinician who performs transplantations.

Reviewed by Norman Shumway, M.D.
Copyright © 1999 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. The New England Journal of Medicine is a registered trademark of the MMS.

From the Back Cover

Transplantation is the first comprehensive, single-volume reference devoted to organ and tissue transplantation. Edited by three outstanding clinicians with contributions from over fifty international experts this exciting new book covers all dimensions of the transplantation process, from basic immunology and immunosuppresssion, through donor management and inividual organ transplant techniques and complications. Special brief commentaries offer colourful editorial comments on many selected chapters, providing multidimensional views of a given issue. For all those involved in the medical and surgical aspects of organ transplants, Transplantation serves as the most current, complete an author iterative resource available.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 942 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (May 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865425205
• ISBN-13: 978-0865425200
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,489,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)