Abstract
This is the first English translation of a French text and is a welcome addition to the available regional anaesthesia resources. It is co-edited by Eryk Eisenberg and Elisabeth Gaertner, both highly regarded educators in ultrasound. The book features several big hitters in the field, and is divided into chapters based on the different nerve plexuses, meaning it flows quite nicely.
The first few chapters cover the principles of ultrasound and its application to regional anaesthesia, including the why and when, which is a good exploration of the literature surrounding safety and quality in regional anaesthesia. This is followed by nerve anatomy, and then each of the regional anaesthesia blocks in turn before finishing with a section on neuraxial blocks.
The primary selling point of the book is the quality and clarity of the images and diagrams included, which are a mix of ultrasound, anatomic dissections and schematics. I particularly liked the images of the transverse process shapes at different cervical levels, as this is something I find difficult to source when teaching. Other standouts are the sections on placement of interscalene catheters and the chapter on sciatic blocks at different levels, which is comprehensive.
As this edition is a 2014 update of the original text, there are some glaring omissions, in the rapidly evolving field of regional anaesthesia, including the suprainguinal fascia iliaca, erector spinae plane and superior trunk brachial plexus blocks, which are all now commonly performed and which I’m sure will make an appearance in any further editions. The book would also benefit from an index to speed up access to specific topics. It would also be very useful to have diagrams demonstrating the bony and muscular coverage of different nerve blocks as only the dermal innervation is included. I note that there is a second edition available in French and we await the English translation.
My overall impression is that it is a well thought out and relevant handbook, especially for those who prefer hard copies of texts to eBooks (also available for this text). There are certain sections of this book that are hard to find elsewhere, meaning that it will not be out of place alongside the more familiar Hadzic, Tsui and Jankovic texts in our regional anaesthesia section of the department library.
