Abstract
Despite the number of pages (1237) this is a small, pocket-sized book that is designed to be a condensed version of the large Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. Being condensed, the authors have attempted to retain key clinical information (particularly the clinical signs, diagnosis and treatment of internal medical diseases) in a summary format. Specifically for the veterinary market, a similar format has been achieved with the handbook that accompanies the two-volume. Ettinger's Veterinary Internal Medicine.
This book is divided up into a number of sections (16 in all). The first deals with common clinical signs of disease, the second with medical emergencies, and there follows a number of sections dealing with major body systems. Each section is constructed well and there is a comprehensive index to enable the reader to rapidly look up specific conditions or clinical signs. In the preface, the editors point out that they do not consider this handbook to be a replacement for a full textbook of medicine, but rather to provide an ‘on-the-spot’ summary of conditions in preparation for a more ‘in-depth’ analysis of a clinical problem. However, having said that, this book alone does contain a wealth of useful information.
The question though that will be asked, is why review or recommend a book on human internal medicine? I think there are probably three aspects to this. Firstly, for some people there is simply the ‘clinical interest’ perspective. Wanting to know and being interested in comparative aspects of the diseases that we commonly deal with in our feline patients. The second aspect is zoonotic diseases. It is sometimes helpful to have a human medical perspective on some of the zoonotic disease that we deal with and, perhaps, to be able to answer questions on these more fully. Finally, a human medical reference can be valuable as a resource for ‘lateral thinking’ about problem cases. Faced with a confusing clinical picture or confusing laboratory data it can be helpful, at least on occasions, to turn to the human medical literature to explore avenues of thought which may not be immediately obvious. For these reasons, and probably many others too, any feline clinician who is interested in more than a superficial knowledge of internal medicine may want, from time-to-time, to consult a human medical text. Harrison's Handbook on the Principles of Internal Medicine is clearly not a comprehensive text, yet it does contain a wealth of clinically-relevant information and would be a useful and thought-provoking addition to the internists library!