The Radiographer, Heft Nr. 2 / 2008 (englisch)

CT Teaching Manual – Systematic Approach to CT Reading. Matthias Hofer (ed.), Thieme Publisher, ISBN 978-1-58890-581-9, 52 US-$

The third edition by Matthias Hofer 2007 is a teaching manual on CT, not just a book. This text was first published in German in 1997 and was so well received that it had been published in English, Spanish, Brazilian, Korean, Italian, Russian and Polish. The author designed the book for the need of the beginner in CT: undergraduates, junior radiographers and radiology registrars.

The book’s emphasis is on normal anatomical orientation. Numerous diagrams are shown and annotated with numbers that are listed and explained on the cover flaps. Additionally, the most common and important pathologic changes and normal variants have been selected as study examples. For undergraduates, the book introduces its subject to its readers beginning with an atlas section. Even as a beginner, you can systematically examine images of abnormalities and practice differential diagnosis.

For radiographers, it explains which contrast media are appropriate for a specific case, when the use of high resolution CT is indicated and what the best injection protocol is when using a pump injector for spiral CT. For radiology registrars, the manual contains an atlas with detailed coded drawings for each CT image. You can quickly refresh your memory for cross-sectional anatomy and correlated 3D structures with features in the images. You can learn the basics of differential diagnosis of CT morphology, both normal and abnormal. Numerous examples arranged according to regions or systems, illustrate normal variations and abnormalities.

The text’s 224 pages are divided into several sections. The book contains more than 1000 illustrations, and more than 500 CT images. Its didactic style makes this an ideal book for beginners in CT, making learning both practical and enjoyable. The book also contains test questions after each heading to help re-inforce the learning. At the end of the book, there is a section dedicated to protocols for 2-row scanners, 6-row scanners, 18-row scanners, 64-row scanners and for dual source scanners. This is a fantastic section you hardly can find in any other CT book. Since dual source CT is a relatively new technology, the author has included a couple of pages to explain the underlying principle of this technology.

With all this valuable information packed in one book and at a relatively low cost, I highly recommend it to all CT radiographers.