Atlas of Laparoscopic Surgery takes what could have been a dull narration of facts concerning laparoscopic procedures and transforms them into a “must-read” innovative and engrossing book for the practicing surgeon and the surgery resident.
The selection this atlas contains is a nice variety of advanced laparoscopic procedures, new instrumentation, and new strategies. It is organized under seven subject headings, each further divided into chapters (sometimes as many as six), giving a step-by step approach to the procedures. Each section describes the indications and contraindications, staging, pre-operative preparation, anesthetics, and choice of instruments. The operation is then described with adequate detail; again, the steps are highlighted to help the reader reconstruct the procedure. The pictures, over 400 in all, are nicely done and they all correspond sufficiently with the step being described. In a specialty where visualization is critical to both the instructional and learning process, the step-by step-description of each procedure and the clarity with which it is illustrated, not obscured by color, makes this atlas an excellent guide to laparoscopic surgery. It is easy to read and comprehend and an invaluable guide to the surgeon, even just prior to an operation. So well woven are the text and pictures, that students can follow each procedure as if they are actually viewing the surgery done before their eyes.
A nice new touch to the atlas is the detail with which postoperative management of patients is described, including useful sections on medication, dietary changes, and even discharge instructions.
The editor, Dr. Ballantyne, has done a find job of selecting a team of laparoscopic surgeons who are at the cutting edge of this field. The reader is therefore exposed to the skills that each surgeon practices, perhaps even to those invented by them. The atlas is a very readable book about an expansive subject with sufficient depth and breadth. It is also a very affordable book for the large amount of knowledge it contains.