Beek E, van Rijn RR, eds. Diagnostic Pediatric Ultrasound. Thieme; 2015; 660 pp; 2025 ill; $229.99
Diagnostic Pediatric Ultrasound is a must-have for any student of pediatric radiology. This work comprises an 18-chapter, 627-page, image-rich text supplemented by a fantastic collection of online video clips.
The book starts with a short chapter on pediatric-specific ultrasound examination topics, addressing everything from how to create a child-friendly environment and the appointment-generation process to providing helpful scanning tips.
This following chapter on ultrasound physics and artifacts is perhaps one of the best teaching texts available for trainees on this topic and is a highly recommended resource for those preparing for the ABR Core examination. This physics chapter starts with the basic principles of ultrasound, including a sensible review on wave propagation in inhomogeneous media, before moving on to higher-level topics such as Doppler, image construction, scanning modes, transducers, artifacts, elastography, and biologic effects and safety.
The 3rd through 17th chapters consistently include a “normal anatomy and variants” section before delving into pathology. Many chapters also start with a section on embryology and examination technique.
Chapter 3, “Neonatal Cranial Ultrasonography”, includes sections on normal anatomy, maturational changes, distinction between normal and abnormal echogenic foci in the neonatal brain, and pathology. The anatomy section provides high-resolution, high-quality side-by-side images of equivalent cross-sections of the brain and ventricles in the preterm and term neonate, so that the reader can easily compare the two. The text frequently points out normal and abnormal findings in the preterm and term neonate that may help the reader avoid both false negatives and false positives in each situation. Pathology is divided into separate “preterm infants”and “term infants” section, with the former taking most of the bulk of the chapter. Of particular interest to neuroradiologists, images of sonographic pathology are not infrequently placed next to corresponding MR images of the same patient, providing a comparison of the same disease process on both modalities.
Chapter 4, “Spine”, includes an appreciated embryology section before entering a discussion on the technique of spinal ultrasound and sonographic spine anatomy and normal variants. Features such as the normal cauda equina, including images showing its gravity-dependency and the intrinsic and marginal sonographic features of the cord, are presented. The pathology section is organized by subsections, including non-skin-covered back masses, skin-covered back masses, occult lesions without a mass, and the sacral dimple. Again, ultrasound images are frequently displayed next to the same pathology on MRI, for a side-to-side comparison between the two images.
Chapter 5, “Neck”, again begins with normal anatomy and variants, followed by a pathology section. In keeping with the image-rich nature of this book, the former section includes 8 sonographic pictures covering the normal parotid, submandibular, sublingual, and thyroid glands. This is, predictably, followed by a pathology section that is subdivided into vessels of the neck, cystic lesions, solid tumors, thyroid gland, salivary gland, thymus, and miscellaneous lesions. Each section is again plentiful in high-quality grayscale and color images.
In each of the preceding chapters, one often wonders when text will be encountered while flipping from one page of high-quality images to the next, to the next, to the next, and so on. Finally, when one finally reaches pages with text, the authors are delightfully clear and concise but also as detailed as one (or at least this reviewer) would want for a textbook. This pattern endures throughout the ensuing and equally outstandingly written chapters, including those on the mediastinum, pleura and thorax, peritoneal cavity and retroperitoneal space, liver and biliary system, spleen, intestine, pancreas, kidneys, adrenal gland, female and male genital tracts, and musculoskeletal ultrasound, all with the same logical format of the already detailed chapters. Each chapter is equally complete in its coverage of the topic suggested in its title, with textual and imaging content undoubtedly useful for the radiologist of any level reading any section.
The novice is sure to benefit from the knowledge imparted in this book, while the most experienced reader is sure to at least enjoy the wonderful examples of the included normal structures and pathologic entities. For those that teach, each chapter provides a logical outline that may be used to model presentations and lecture series, as well as a host of scholarly references that can be used if more detail is desired regarding a particular topic.
Without reservation, this reviewer recommends Diagnostic Pediatric Ultrasound to any radiologist or neuroradiologist that reads pediatric ultrasound cases. This work is also enthusiastically recommended to radiology and pediatric educators for its image-rich nature and consistent, logical organization, which may be used to guide curriculum. Finally, the resident trainee would be especially well served by this book, not only for its diagnostic content, but for its value in learning the basics of ultrasound physics. In short, this work far exceeds the quality of other pediatric radiology books due to its clarity in text and, more impressively, the quality of its images, and it deserves a place in any department that reads any kind of pediatric ultrasound.
