The Diagnosis of Lymphoproliferative Diseases: An atalas
Gatter K, Delsol G. (£145.00.) Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0 19 850 891 3.
The authors set out clearly in their preface how and why this atlas came into being. An atlas in pathology is usually a compendium or analecta of illustrations attended by short annotations. As a rule, atlases don’t make the “go for” book list when it comes to a diagnostic crunch. This book is more than an atlas. Condensed into a mere 262 (258 if one really wants to be pedantic) pages, crammed with excellent colour illustrations, this book is also full of facts, suggestions and guidelines. From the introduction (where one of the authors indulges himself with a military reference!) which contains very useful tables of antibodies used in haematopathology through to the index at the back, I found the book extremely user friendly and written in an almost conversational style. This book has everything a general surgical pathologist is ever likely to encounter by way of lymphoproliferative diseases. I daresay the card carrying haematopathologist will be hard pressed to find an entity that is not covered. The book addresses all the diagnostic dilemmas that cause non-aficionados of matters lymphoproliferative to become weak kneed about in a concise, coherent, and informative manner. There is no doubt that this is an essential benchbook for any department of pathology. With all the colour pictures, the price is competitive and not exhorbitant. Professors Gatter and Delsol are to be congratulated on their pithy, epigrammatic offering, which really does prove that size doesn’t really matter.
