Akbarnia BA, Yazici M, Thompson GH, eds. The Growing Spine: Management of Spinal Disorders in Young Children. Springer 2010, 630 pages, 304 illustrations, $239.00.
Abnormalities of the curve of the spine are a challenge to the physician not only because of the continuing growth of the spine but also because of the risk of progression of the spinal curvature with resultant detrimental effect on the pulmonary and cardiovascular systems. The Growing Spine: Management of Spinal Disorders in Young Children is a comprehensive textbook that not only covers all the aspects of infantile, juvenile, and adolescent scoliosis but also addresses different types of management strategies for scoliosis and its complications.
The book has 50 excellent chapters, and going into each of these is beyond the scope of this review. Suffice to say, each of the chapters has been written by authors who are experts in the field and are accompanied by excellent references, colored diagrams, and photographs, as well as high resolution images. One of the highlights of this book, I feel, is the beginning of each chapter, which starts with a ‘key points’ section that briefly highlights the most important points of the rest of the chapter.
The book has been appropriately divided into 4 sections. The first section has a few chapters which focus mainly on the embryology, anatomy, and genetics of the spine as well as the normal growth of the spine. The next two sections deal with the evaluation of the growing child and the multiple causes for spinal deformities, both idiopathic and non-idiopathic. Some of the relevant chapters, to name a few, are the ones which deal with the issues of back pain, infections and tumors in children as well as other causes for scoliosis both congenital and acquired. The 2nd and 3rd section and its chapters were particularly interesting to me as a radiologist, since they deal with the clinical aspects and management of multiple causes for scoliosis, many of which I am used to seeing regularly in my daily practice. The final section—which is the core of the book—is related to the management of scoliosis. Various treatment strategies are discussed, both surgical and non-surgical, as well as current and future challenges in scoliotic therapy.
All in all, there are 47 authors, each of whom is an expert in their field and who have put together this wonderful text. This book has been much needed given all the current changes and advances in the management of spinal disorders in children.
Since abnormalities of the spine can affect multiple organ systems, this book can not only serve as a useful tool for the orthopedic subspecialists but also serve as a reference textbook for neurosurgeons, pulmonologists, and radiologists as well as nurses and physical rehabilitation specialists.
