M. Mike Malek, editor. New York: Springer; 2001.
496 pages. $225.00.
This text is a first edition and presents a relatively new approach
to the discussion of knee surgery. The intended audience is the
orthopaedic surgeon, both in practice and in training. The basic
purpose of this book is to teach how complications can be avoided.
Ideally, the aim is to give the surgeon "experience" with
the procedures, especially in the early phases of his or her surgical
career.
The book is exhaustive in its coverage of knee surgery and includes
discussions of arthroscopy, arthroplasty, and fractures (including
those in children). The topics are relatively well-covered, and
the book includes descriptions of cutting-edge procedures such as
autologous cell implantation. An ingenious touch was the inclusion
of a final section made up of case reports from around the world,
which adds a historical, literature-based reality to the text.
Two surprisingly weak areas of the text are the treatment of
multiple ligamentous injuries and the treatment of tibial plateau
fractures. I was also surprised that the book provided little information
on how to choose between hamstring grafts and bone-patellar tendon-bone
grafts as well as on the importance of obtaining preoperative range
of motion in knee ligament surgery. Nonetheless, these deficits
do not diminish the overall thoroughness of the text and are areas
for emphasis in the next edition.
The contributing authors are experienced and were appropriately
selected for their expertise in the specific area of knee surgery
that they covered. The figures in the text are not particularly
noteworthy, but the use of color plates with arthroscopic views
and photographs of problem cases gives the book a realistic feel.
The seven sections are logically divided, and the thirty-five chapters provide
an exhaustive and encyclopedic coverage of the topics.
In summary, the editor accomplished the goal of identifying pitfalls
and complications through his focus on "surgeon experience." This
volume, which can function as a textbook form of a "senior
partner or attending surgeon," is essential for the graduating
or senior orthopaedic surgery resident and for the orthopaedic surgeon in
the first five years of practice. Certainly, any knee surgeon will
want this book as a reference.