Sharon W. Weiss and John R. Goldblum, editors. St.
Louis: Mosby; 2001. 1632 pages. $295.00.
This unique tome on soft-tissue tumors is the fourth edition
of Enzinger and Weiss’s original text and includes contributions by
ten additional pathologists and clinicians. The late Franz Enzinger,
the senior author, had an extraordinary influence on this book,
including his personal observations, buttressed by the enormous
collection at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.
The first edition, published almost twenty years ago, is widely recognized
as one of the most definitive and most thoroughly documented studies
of soft-tissue tumors available. Some readers may wonder whether
they really need this edition because the third edition was published
fairly recently, in 1995. Although the general format and the lesions
that are covered remain about the same, this edition has been greatly improved
by the conversion of practically all of the illustrations to clear
and crisp color images, which enormously enhances the book’s
value as an atlas. In addition, updates have been provided on immunohistochemistry,
fine-needle aspirations, cytogenetics, and molecular biology.
This text is an invaluable resource for its detailed descriptions of
the pathological characteristics of soft-tissue tumors, with tumor-staging
and a thorough review of the natural history of each entity. This
information is critical to physicians making decisions on treatment.
Basic principles of treatment are described only in general terms.
The specific details of surgical procedures, radiation therapy,
and chemotherapy are beyond the scope of this text.
A typical chapter is the fifty-three-page section on liposarcoma,
one of the most common soft-tissue sarcomas in adults. The current
liposarcoma nomenclature, which is often confusing, is clarified.
Subtypes of liposarcoma and staging studies including dedifferentiation
to a higher grade of malignancy are clearly presented. About seventy
photomicrographs, almost all of them in color, are included. The
sections on differential diagnosis with cytogenetic and molecular
studies are updated from the previous edition. The authors correlate
the clinical and histological features of liposarcoma with survival. Liposarcoma
in children is also briefly discussed. This chapter concludes with
103 references.
This comprehensive, clearly written, richly and artfully illustrated
text, with an extensive bibliography on each entity, should be in
the personal library of physicians who care for patients with soft-tissue
tumors on a regular basis. This audience includes most musculoskeletal
oncologists and pathologists. All orthopaedists should be aware
of its value as a resource text and should establish a mechanism
for easy access to its contents.