Abstract
We have only had to wait four years for the latest edition of this popular clinical chemistry textbook, which is written for medical students and trainee clinical and biomedical scientists. The overall aim of the book is to provide an understanding of the role of clinical biochemistry in the investigation and management of disease, which I feel it achieves clearly and concisely. Although the cover is different but equally as eye-catching, the content in this edition only differs slightly from that in the previous one. The 21 chapters cover the same topics as before (ranging from electrolytes and renal function to endocrine and metabolic diseases) with similar patient case histories. Each chapter has the same format with a general introduction, followed by detailed sections and a summary. It is just as readable with colourful figures and tables. In addition, keywords and phrases in the text have been highlighted in bold, which is helpful. Improvements that have been made to the content include additional information on renal function, nutritional disorders and neurological and psychiatric diseases, which reflect the continuing advances in clinical biochemistry. For example, there is a description of estimated glomerular filtration rate and how it is derived using the 4-variable Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation and new sections on psychiatric manifestations of systemic illnesses, endocrine and metabolic abnormalities associated with both psychiatric disorders and psychotropic drugs. However, the inclusion of more tables summarizing appropriate investigations in the differential diagnosis of various diseases would have been useful.
In previous editions, the self-assessment material appeared in the appendix, whereas now this section in only available online and is ‘fully revised and extended’. In keeping with the move to access more information online each copy contains its own pin number allowing the reader to register at studentconsult.com and subsequently access this site. This website is easy to navigate and is very user-friendly. It offers more scope for self-learning and assessment, and as the authors point out in the preface, will be subject to revision independent of the printed text. Currently, there are 53 questions covering the curriculum in single best answer format which are easy to follow and the explanations are clear and concise. My only criticism is that there is no way of skipping the questions you have completed on a separate visit, so you have to trawl through those you have done which can be quite laborious if you want to skip to the last 10!!! The website also contains an image library which enables the user to select any figure from the textbook, and subsequently upload into presentations for teaching purposes. These updates are very useful and will appeal to the majority of those with exams around the corner and to others who just want to brush up on their knowledge or gain access to useful figures!
I would highly recommend this book to those of you who do not already own the previous edition and are about to embark on a career in clinical biochemistry or medicine as it provides an accessible, informative and concise approach to this ever-expanding subject and is definitely good value for money.
To avoid conflicts of interest, this review was commissioned by the Editor-in-Chief, not the Book Reviews Editor.