S. Terry Canale, James H. Beaty, editors. Philadelphia: Mosby; 2008. 4899 pages. $499.00. ISBN: 978-0-323-03329-9.
The eleventh edition of this comprehensive orthopaedic surgical textbook provides a valuable update for any orthopaedic surgeon's library. Editors Canale and Beaty have compiled an extensive compendium of surgical techniques covering virtually all orthopaedic surgical procedures. As always, the techniques are superbly described in the text. In this edition, the editors have added many more line drawings and color illustrations of the surgical techniques and have highlighted and presented the specific steps of each technique in a bulleted format. This method of presenting specific surgical techniques is the greatest advance over the tenth edition.
All of the authors come from the Campbell Clinic, and each provides substantial expertise in his or her area of subspecialty interest. The topics covered are contemporary and relevant for the practicing orthopaedic surgeon. While many of the traditional orthopaedic surgical procedures are still very heavily emphasized, new techniques in arthroscopy and arthroplasty are now included.
This is, indeed, a monumental work, comprising almost 5000 pages. The editors have done an excellent job of cross-referencing subjects from one volume to the other and, with the addition of a fully searchable online component, have facilitated access by specific topic. The editors promise to provide us with "instant access to regular updates," and it will be interesting to see if this edition can remain contemporary over its lifetime as new techniques are introduced into our ever-changing orthopaedic field.
The textbook includes a few supplemental, high-quality DVDs of very selected procedures. The procedures, however, are not substantially different from those presented on CD-ROM in the previous edition of this text.
Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics remains an excellent resource for all general orthopaedic surgeons, and it should be an integral part of every orthopaedic residency program and in every orthopaedic library. The authors and the editors are to be commended for maintaining the extremely high quality of this historically outstanding resource for practicing orthopaedic surgeons.