Orloff LA. Head and Neck Ultrasonography: Essential and Extended Applications. 2nd ed. Plural Publishing; 2017; 544 pp; $299.95
The second edition of Head and Neck Ultrasonography: Essential and Extended Applications is an inclusive and detailed review of office-based and intraoperative ultrasonography. The book caters to a diverse audience, including radiologists, surgeons, and clinicians such as endocrinologists.
This publication is organized into 21 chapters covering a diverse range of topics. The initial chapters outline the history of head and neck ultrasonography, as well as basic US physics and current equipment and techniques, which builds on the knowledge base of the reader. There is also a chapter on healthy head and neck anatomy, which may serve as a good review for some before gaining access to more advanced material.
The diagnostic chapters may be of particular interest to general radiologists, neuroradiologists, and pediatric radiologists. These range from discussions of more common applications, such as thyroid and parathyroid disease, to more specialized knowledge, such as salivary gland and laryngeal ultrasonography.
Chapters on transesophageal and endobronchial ultrasound, as well as interventional ultrasonography, contain text covering anatomy, pathology, and procedural technical aspects that are geared towards a more procedurally inclined audience, including interventional radiologists, otolaryngologists, gastroenterologists, and pulmonologists, as well as endocrinologists who perform office-based diagnostic procedures, such as US-guided FNA.
One distinct characteristic throughout the book is its particular attention to descriptive and pictorial consideration of ultrasonographic technique, which might be of interest to the radiologist who is less experienced in head and neck “hands-on“ scanning.
Image quality is overall robust and representative illustrations are clear, with several containing 2 axes depicting the same finding. A few figures are rendered in lower resolution, likely due to inherent technique or the equipment utilized.
Sonographic dynamic clips are also included on the companion website, providing a user-friendly platform for multimedia content that serves as an adjunct to images presented in the book. Where available, the video clips are indicated in the legend by the corresponding image or in the text with a notification icon containing “www” by the side of the text. The clips are also enumerated near the end of each chapter just prior to the references. This is a powerful combination of learning resources, especially given the intended mixed audience.
The subject in each chapter is coherently laid out and comprehensively covered, designed to meet and exceed the depth of knowledge needed for everyday practice. Special emphasis is given to interpretation pitfalls and strategies for acquiring appropriate and representative imaging of the structures being surveyed. The references from scholarly publications are clearly enumerated at the end of every chapter under their own subsection, making it easy to correlate the chapter contents.
A few enhancements to the present edition could include adding legends for several of the online videos in the companion website, some of which can only be found on the corresponding figures in the book. The addition of a greater number of correlative cross-sectional images, such as CT or MRI where appropriate, may also improve understanding of the underlying process.
In summary, this publication is a comprehensive and in-depth review of head and neck ultrasonographic technique, anatomy, and pathology and is recommended for a diverse audience that includes radiologists, surgeons, and clinicians of a variety of subspecialties. This text would be particularly interesting for neuroradiologists who want to expand their knowledge of sonographic diagnosis as it correlates to many commonly recognized entities in head and neck imaging.
