review of my book from greece

Receieved from Dimitrios I Zafeiriou of Greece on 13 September 2004

Assistant Professor in Child Neurology and Developmental Pediatrics

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki



"Review of Radiology" by Sumer K. Sethi, Peepee publishers, New Delhi, India, 145 pages, is a small pocket book aimed mainly at the overburdened undergraduate medical student.

The book is divided in 3 main chapters, namely General Radiology, Systemic Radiology and Radiotherapy (total of 66 pages), which are followed by a last Chapter on Commonly Asked Questions and Answers, covering more than half of the total book pages (79 pages).

One of the main advantages of this little book is that is packed with information, which has been presented in points, so that it can be easily remembered by both undergraduate medical students and doctors on their way to specialization. In some instances one finds himself trying to remember to include all possible differential diagnoses of a specific X-ray sign (i.e. wormian bones on scull X-ray) before reading further; in this way this fine booklet serves as a differential diagnostic compendium too.

There are some minor points which need to be carefully thought in the next revised edition, especially the amount of pages devoted to some Chapters: i.e. the Chapter on Radiotherapy is probably too long for the public the book was designed to appeal to (much is discussed on theoretic background of Radiotherapy, something that is carefully omitted in other Chapters), while in the other hand the information given on Pediatric Radiotherapy is probably too little. There are some classification problems too: for example trisomy 18 and Downs syndrome are listed among metabolic and hematological disorders. However, the information given is correct and what one could have entitled as “classic” knowledge.

The multiple choice questions at the end of the book beautifully summarize the main points of the previous chapters and help to test one's knowledge on radiology and radiotherapy.

In conclusion, this is a valuable quick reference and concise pocket book on Radiology, not only for students but for specialists too