Federle MP, Rosado-de-Christenson ML, Raman SP, Carter BW, Woodward PJ, Shaaban AM. Imaging Anatomy: Chest, Abdomen, Pelvis. 2nd ed. Elsevier; 2016; 1192 pp; $329.99
For anyone predominantly or exclusively involved in neuroradiology, having a high-quality, well-illustrated, and readily available text covering the chest, abdomen, and pelvis is desirable. Those parts of the body have a nasty way of occasionally making the interpretations of spine imaging more difficult. Enter the second edition of Imaging Anatomy: Chest, Abdomen, Pelvis (2017), published by Elsevier and edited by Drs. Federle, Rosado-de-Christenson, Raman, Carter, Woodward, and Shaaban. As with all the books in this series, the drawings, the imaging, and the bullet point written material in this hardcover book is outstanding in quality.
The chest section is divided into 16 chapters, the abdomen into 17 chapters, and the pelvis into 8 chapters. The emphasis throughout, as the title implies, is on anatomy; however, in some sections (e.g., in the abdomen) there is more pathologic imaging than in others. Nearly all of the material is pertinent to our interpretation of spine imaging when large fields of view are included (or even if the FOVs are narrow). Nowhere is this more pertinent than when viewing thoracic lumbar spine imaging (CTs in particular) and analyzing the abdominal contents when required. Here would be a ready reference to help resolve questions related to anatomy and pathology incidentally seen on neuroimaging. The same can be said for the imaging of the pelvis. Here (as in the entire book) the illustrations of the anatomy are outstanding. These help to further one’s appreciation of the accompanying CT anatomy, although MR and US are included to a lesser extent. There are areas that will not be troublesome when viewing spine or lumbosacral plexus studies, such as detailed imaging anatomy of the heart or detailed considerations of male genital anatomy or pathology; but as one goes through the many axial CT images of the pelvis and abdomen, the value of the book is apparent.
This volume is highly recommended for any departmental library and for a personal purchase by a neuroradiologist. After all, we don’t want to always be consulting our body imaging colleagues for a finding in the abdomen or pelvis on a neuroradiology study.
