Customer Reviews

Vascular & Interventional Radiography: A Comprehensive Text & Examination Review Book

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

 

 

This book provided an adaquate overview of interventional radiology equipment and procedures. However, the book was chalk full of spelling, grammar, and punctuational errors. In some places the editing was so poor that I had to reread information 2 or 3 times to figure out what the author was trying to communicate. It does not offer explanations for all the answers in the review section. For me, the answers I disagreed with most were answers that had no explanation given. Also, some information in this book directly conflicted with information given in another section of the same book. Most of the drawings lacked detail. Having already sat for my ARRT (VI) exam, on the job experience was far greater a reference to draw from than was this book. I regret paying the steep price tag. Wait for Appleton & Lange to put out an ARRT (VI) review book.

Nervous about spending this much money on a book that "needs a good editor", I got it and was frustrated to find that the book needs a whole lot more than a "good editor". I previously studied for the RCIS using Wes Todd's books and I was very frustrated with the mistakes in plenty on Wes Todd's study materials. HOWEVER, at least the materials had useful information and not a bunch of words copied and pasted to fill blank spaces on white pages.

AFTER spending time studying I have determined that this book is a huge waste of money. It seems that most of the book is copy and pasted and in places that make no sense. The only part of this book that is worth studying from is the diagrams.

Appleton & Lange's Review of Cardiovascular-Interventional Technology Examination, may be an older book, but it has much more complete information. I am wondering if Wes Todds Study Materials covers enough to take the VI. I have already taken and passed both the CI and RCIS using his materials.

This book was full of detailed images but was somewhat difficult to follow. Different fonts were used, making reading this book a challange. Most of the
information contained in this book seems to be intended for technoligists that
are beginning of just entering into the IR field. I compared the paragraphs and test questions that are included in this book to another book, "Appleton and Lange's Review of Cardiovascular-Interventional Technology Examination", and many of them were similar if not the same. The Appleton and Lange's contained more information regarding the VI field from anatomy, pathology, and procedures. One plus side was the information regarding the latest plasty devices used to open vessels.

When I took and passed my V.I. exam there wasn't an exam prep book to rely upon...there still isn't. I purchased this book so that others in my lab could have a, "...Comprehensive Text & Examination Review Book". I assume this book is self published because now published in his right mind would let such a shoddy piece of work leave the publishing house. There isn't any consistency in the text or imaging throughout the book. The author has clearly culled together some power point presentations, vendor pamphlets, and exam questions from other study materials to put together this book.

A more useful book is "The Handbook of Interventional Radiologic Procedures" by Kandarpa and Machan.

Cut and paste your own study guide before you buy this book.

I'd give zero stars if I could.

Being the only VI review out there it was adequate. It "borrows" extensively from Appleton & Lange's "Reveiw of Cardiovascular-Interventioal Technical Examination." Pretty much word for word in many sections. It does expand into VI exams much more extensively than the Appleton and Lange, but is FULL of errors and very poor outlining. There is a huge opportunity for a new text here. This along with the "Handbook of Interventioal Radiologic Procedures" by Kandarpa and Aruny are enough to get you through.

First off, I haven't really read enough to determine if it is a good review source. But the "first impression" wasn't that great. It is mostly cosmetic, but there are many low quality images through out the book. Some are simply pictures of product labels, like they were taken while hanging on a rack as they walked by. Some images appear to have been made with Microsoft Paint. And some appear to be copies of the Power Point presentations the different manufacturers show during in-services. The editing needs some work as well. While it states on the cover that it is a First Edition, I wished they had waited to clean it up before releasing it. Especially since I have paid less money for hard cover medical books (from Medical College of Georgia) that were far superior. If my employer wasn't going to purchase it from me after I am finished with it, I would have returned it. It may truly be helpful in review, but with what I have seen in the quality overall, I always question how accurate the information is. But if you don't mind possibly returning the book, give it a try. Maybe the little "attention to details" things don't bother you as much.

This book was very informative and a good review for someone who has worked in an Angio lab for three years. I did find a couple of different sections throughout the book that had typos and some of the questions and answers were contradicting. Overall this book was a great review to prepare for my up-coming test.

As stated in the description for this book, there aren't many study guides available for the VIR exam and it's a very difficult exam. Therefore, it's important that the one study guide available is accurate, concise, well-organized, and written by a leader in the field. Unfortunately this book is none of those. It's commendable that Mr. Schwartz put this out there and maybe it's better than nothing, but the fact that this book claims to represent the comprehensive scope of Interventional Radiology is a little insulting and very unnerving when we are to rely on this to prepare for the test. The text is filled with editing notes and misspellings and the images are extremely low quality. Interventional radiology is a field that involves high-quality imaging, advanced technology, attention to detail, and quality, professional education, this book does not reflect that. This is the only study guide available and I feel too irritated to study every time I open it...and the author's claim to fame that he is one of the first people to image sea mammals in Florida does not reassure me.

This is a good book to prepare for the VIR with, but the many mistakes as far as spelling errors, grammer and format makes it a tough read. I used this book along with the Appleton and Lang to study for the VIR. The test format in the back is great but only a few of the answers are explained. Buy the book but it shouldnt be your only study guide.

This book is okay. I appreciate the fact that it's the only one out there for techs. The editing is so poor that I had to reread several items and there is one page in the back regarding nephrostomies that is literally cut and pasted word for word, repeated. Very strange. Random exclamation points in the middle of sentences. And artery hematomas listed as a possible adverse effect of NON-VASCULAR procedure! Seriously? I think the author was a little too cut and paste happy. But, it gave me a broad idea of a study layout. I'm also using the Heals Review test and used chapters one and two of Vascular Interventional Radiology by Karim Valji. My test is in a month. Glad I bought the cheap book that was offered. Oh yeah, HUGE help was bringing this book to Office Max and having it spiral bound (this cost $4) so as to fold it to make studying easier, otherwise the pages kept closing.