Customer Reviews

BRS Pathology (Board Review Series)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book presents concise information yet it's written in sentence form so it explains items at the same time. It's not just a book of bullet points crammed into an outline form like the Golgan Rapid Review. Sure, it purposefully skips certain details but I feel if you read this book multiple times, you will understand Pathology better than most students. It's so well written that it's easy to read and you will get through chapters quickly. I highly recommend this book especially if you are someone who likes to understand what they read.

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.

great book summarizes robbins pathology text book well...for the previous reviewer...yes you are correct this book lacks what you wrote up...but those facts can be found in first aid...so its not a real big deal... use this during your coursework and for usmle 1...it'll help u get the bigger picture...which is easily lost in med school...where details predominate....

Alright, fine, I admit it --- I'm one of the med students who didn't like Goljan's Rapid Review Pathology book. After all, how can a 700-page book be considered a "rapid review"? This book is an excellent alternative! For Step 1, I used BRS Pathology exclusively. At a slender 400 pages, I was able to cover the entire book in-depth in a week, and it was just the right amount of information for the boards. The combination of BRS Path, First Aid, and doing practice questions is plenty for the pathology questions on the boards. I got my score report back last month and did very well --- and pathology was my strongest section. Good luck, and happy studying!

An upper classman of mine who scored very high on step 1 revealed to me that he read BRS Pathology many times over during his preparation for Step 1. My game plan was to emulate his study regimen so that I could also score high.
In addition to Fist Aid, and some other review books, I read BRS pathology many many times over during my step 1 preparation. Rather than taking notes, I just sat in bed and read from cover to cover BRS Pathology over and over probably about 10-12 times before taking step 1. I felt a strong command of the material and ended up scoring a 241/97% which I largely attribute to this book. While the reviewer above points out that it is not comprehensive (some small points left out) and there is some redundancy, you will not find a better review for Step 1.

This book is a no nonsense review of path. Sure it lacks illustrations, but it's well organized and covers the high yield stuff for step I.

This is an excellent review for both a pathology course and for studying for USMLE Step I. Its main weakness is that it doesn't include very many images, so you need an atlas of some sort as a companion. I used an image bank my school provided and this book alone to study for pathology on Step I, and I did extremely well.

I'm not sure what this other reviewer who claims the book is missing important details is talking about, because most of the stuff he mentions as left out of BRS Pathology, I am certain I learned from this book. This is the best book I ever read in medical school. It probably has a little bit too much detail for Step 1 (I took it in 2001), but damn, nearly everything in the book is fair game for the exam. True, there are some entries that leave you wondering, "how will I ever apply this esoteric fact or get asked a question on it?" But trust me, it is the highest yield book in all of medical school. Read this, and First Aid, and you will be set for about 70% of all questions on Step 1. If it wasn't for these two books, I would not be finishing up my radiology residency right now.

Bottomline: Buy it. Read it. Memorize it.

very good book. i liked the chapter summaries and the questions at the end of each chapter

BRS Pathology is one of the most detailed review books for this course. It covers all high
-yield items which are tested in Step 1 USMLE, making it a reliable guide for a top score! It also deals with some lower-yield topics which ,however, prove to be useful knowledge for life long medical practice. I definitely recommend it as a learning tool.