Abstract
As the title states, this book is an atlas of ultrasonographic images of small animal patients. It contains concise but thorough information on obtaining images of various organs and their ultrasonographic appearance, citing much of the current ultrasound literature. It would be a good addition to the library of veterinarians who perform a lot of ultrasonography and would like help with orientating to the planes of the organs or would like to improve their interpretation of the images. Unlike other introductory ultrasound texts available, it does not contain the basic information about how ultrasound generates images or the workings of the machine and therefore is not recommended as the beginning textbook for someone just starting out, who needs to learn the fundamentals of ultrasonography.
The chapters are each dedicated to a body region or organ system. The chapters follow a fairly uniform organization. The first section is typically about general imaging technique for the region, such as patient and transducer positioning along with transducer selection. The subsequent sections discuss normal appearance of the region/organ followed by abnormal findings. For most sections, discussion of the abnormal findings is grouped into ultrasonographic findings, such as general versus focal changes in echogenicity. This makes it easier to find differential diagnoses for a specific ultrasonographic change, as is often necessary in a clinical setting. A few chapters, such as the section on the gastrointestinal tract, describe abnormal findings based on diseases. This means a reader will need to read all sections to formulate diagnoses for a specific ultrasonographic finding. Since many ultrasonographic findings are nonspecific and can fit with several diseases, the former structure is preferred.
There are numerous images of a great variety of diseases presented. The majority of images are very well labeled making the identification of normal anatomy or abnormal findings easier. Many sections also contain detailed illustrations of normal anatomy and transducer positioning, which are useful guides. Various sections also include a radiographic image of the area being imaged, sometimes with a superimposed drawing of transducer position to correlate with a corresponding ultrasound image. This could be especially helpful to aid orientation for novice ultrasonographers who may be more comfortable with radiography. This is an especially wonderful addition to the thoracic section. Various charts are also included which help to organize either lists of differential diagnoses or reported measurements for structures.
As this is a first edition, there are occasionally typographical errors which should not detract from the text. A few images were also mislabeled, which should not cause a problem for experienced imagers but could confuse novice ultrasonographers.