93 of 112 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Ok, but misses some important details. Rapid Review pathology is much better., April 29, 2006
This review is from: BRS Pathology (Board Review Series) (Paperback)
This is a good book, well organzied with nice explanations. However, it lacks illustrations, lacks questions in clinical vignette format, and lacks important details with emphasis on low yield subjects.
What do I mean by lacks important details? Well, it leaves out important things sometimes, for example:
1.Down syndrome is associated with ALL, hirschsprung disease, duodenal atresia (actually book makes no mention of duodenal atresia)
2.Pulsatile mass seen in abdominal aortic aneurysms
3.Kawasaki disease associated with heart disease in children
4.Neurofibromatosis type II
5.Tuberous sclerosis and hypopigmented patches on the trunk
6.Turners syndrome and increased risk of dysgerminoma, hypothyroidism, horseshoe kidneys, bicuspid aortic valve
7.Scleroderma associated with primary biliary cirrhosis
8.Primary sclerosing cholangitis associated with ulcerative colitis
9.alpha1 antitrypsin deficiency being mcc of cirrhosis in children
10.Chronic pyelonephritis.
11. Hashimoto's thyroiditis and anti-microsomal antibodies
12. the age groups for leukemias: 0-14 ALL, 15-39 AML, 40-60 AML & CML, 60+ CLL (you can answer any leukemia question on the step just by knowing how old the patient is)
13. AML association with Auer rods and 15:17 translocation and DIC
14. CD15 and CD30 and the Reed-Sternberg cell
15.Exophageal webs
16.Mallory-Weiss syndrome, Boerhave syndrome
17.Seborrheic keratosis association with gastric carcinoma
18. focal segmental glomerulosclerosis seen in HIV and IVDA's
19.adult polycystic kidney disease associated with mitral valve prolapse (25% of the time!, how could this book miss this)
20.renal cell ca is discussed but it doesn't mention the increased incidence after dialysis or its association with adult kidney polycistic disease
21.seminoma and placental alkaline phosphatse (palp) as a marker
22. papillary carcinoma associated with radiation
23.hypoparathyroidism and chvostek sign (tapping face in front of ear elicits tetany) This showed up on my test on two questions! Yes step 1.
24. actinic keratosis - easily scrapped off and recurs
25. keloid and type III collagen. hypertrophic scar and type I collagen
26. malignant melanoma and its tumor marker s-100
27. squamous skin cancer associated with tertiary burns, immunosuppresive therapy, draining sinus tracts
28.pseudogout and positive birefringent
Honestly, the list goes on and on, and these are all very high yield points missed by this book.
29.cerebral palsy
30.neurofibrillary tangles and the tau protein
31.familial ALS and a mutant superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene
32.neuroblastoma and bombesin
33.pilocytic astrocytomas
34.oral contraceptives and thrombophilia
35.septic shock association with ARDS
36.dilated cardiomyyopathy and mural thombi
37.myxoma of left atrium and syncope due to obstruction of mitral valve
38. malignant mesothelioma (mentioned only briefly)
39.pneumocysis carinii pneumonia and the silver stain
40.hemorrhoids and pregnancy, cirrhosis, constipation
I'll stop there, but there are more...
What do I mean by too much emphasis on low yield subjects?
1.Lupus nephropathy type I - type V (the subtypes won't show up on step1)
2.Subacute thryoiditis, Riedel thyroiditis (only hashimoto's thyroiditis will be on step1)
3.Philadelphia chromosome association with ALL (step1 will only ask about its association with CML)
4.Precursor T lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukemia (low yield)
5.osteoid osteoma, osteoblastoma
6.prothrombin 20210a transition
And the again, no mechanisms. I know this is a pathology book, but basic mechanisms should be included because it helps students retain more if they understand the mechanism. For example,
why is CLL associated with hypogammaglobulinemia? (because the neoplastic cells less capable of differentiating to plasma cells)
why sarcoidosis associated with hypercalcemia? (because epithelial macrophages convert vitamin d to active form)
why is diverticulosis associated with diverticulitis? (because of fecalith in the diverticulum sac)
carcinoid is most commonly located in the appendix but when located there it doesn't metasize. why? (because the appendix only allows the tumor to grow to <2cm and tumors usually metastasize when larger than 2cm)
Sorry, I got carried away...there's just so much I remember that were missing from this book... other reviewers have noticed this as well i'm sure. however, the info that is in this book is well organized and an easy read...so i give it 2 stars.
Goljan's Rapid Review has more high yield material, but the organization of it is not as good. Actually I'm going to write a review on that book now.
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