Marburger Bund Zeitung No. 15/2015, Oct. 23 2015

Review of the 4th revised edition of “Chest-X-Ray-Trainer,” Thoracic X-Ray Diagnostics
: Organized to Address the Problem as It Arises

Doctors in virtually every medical specialty are confronted multiple times a day—whether on night shifts, in intensive care units, or during routine ward rounds—with chest X-rays whose abnormalities are by no means “obvious”: For example, does a streaky-reticular consolidation in the lung indicate congestion, an inflammatory process, or lymphangiosis carcinomatosa associated with a malignancy? Textbooks organized solely by disease entities—rather than by morphological changes in the images—offer little practical help here, because narrowing down the differential diagnosis requires painstakingly sifting through multiple chapters:

The textbook *Chest-X-Ray-Trainer, Röntgen-Thorax-Diagnostik*, on the other hand, is structured exactly as the problem presents itself: Possible causes—such as mediastinal widening or focal, diffuse, or streaky-reticulated pulmonary changes—are clearly presented in order of frequency, along with their respective characteristics and accompanying sketches (extremely helpful!). Since the images, along with their accompanying sketches and text, are always on the same page, there’s no need for tedious page-turning. The most important differential diagnosis criteria are clearly highlighted in tables and are included with the book—along with tables of reference values—as washable, very practical pocket-sized cards.

The quiz questions at the end of each chapter and the detailed video clips for self-assessment on the accompanying CD are a great help. After a reasonable amount of time to work on the questions, the quiz answers are explained with precise visual illustrations, ensuring that these diagnostic exercises yield significant learning benefits. Advanced readers will appreciate the chapters on monitoring the position of foreign materials (heart valves, catheters of all types, endotracheal tubes, and even IABP pumps) in intensive care medicine. In addition, central venous catheter placement and pleural drainage/puncture are clearly illustrated in step-by-step procedures. Overall, this new edition impresses with its quality and scope. The elaborately produced accompanying CD is another highlight.

M. Hofer (Ed.): Chest X-Ray Trainer: Thoracic Radiology Diagnostics
Didamed Verlag, Düsseldorf, 4th edition 2014, 224 pages, €39.90
ISBN 978-3-938103-03-6