This textbook is an old favourite, first published in 1980, and is familiar to many students and teachers of anatomy. In general, the illustrations (originally taken from Grant’s Atlas) have been gradually improved and added to over the years and a significant amount of additional clinical material has been incorporated into the ‘blue boxes’. It is a comprehensive tome and is certainly a good reference source. However, it contains detail over and above the level that many of us are now able to teach to medical students in the reduced time available to us, and many students will prefer to purchase the related but slimmed-down: ‘Essential Clinical Anatomy’ from the same authors and publisher. However, students studying for a degree in anatomy or anatomical sciences will find this text invaluable.
I am regularly asked by students, ‘what anatomy textbook should I buy?’ I usually answer by suggesting that they need to find a book that they get on with, as what suits one student may well not suit another. One test that I suggest to help them choose is to think of a question to ask the book, and specifically something which they do not fully understand. This will show them if the index and contents are well organized and if the style of the text, images and layout actually help them to learn and understand.
Although I have used Clinically Orientated Anatomy for many years to teach anatomy as a basic science, when I received this updated 6th edition I thought that I should take my own advice. So, first question: What is the structure and function of the inguinal canal? Inguinal canal wasn’t in the index so I tried abdominal wall, which was listed but still no sign of the inguinal canal. I turned to the relevant section on anterior abdominal wall where I found a sub-section on the inguinal region. The description was detailed and factually accurate, and over the page there were two coloured, diagrammatic representations of the canal in 3D and section, a table explaining the constituent parts and a section on development. The diagram clearly demonstrated the arrangement of each layer, but there was no real attempt to explain the organization of the area to me. The section on development was helpful and described the relationship of the round ligament and the spermatic cord as contents, but I do wonder if this should have been presented prior to the description of the canal itself. Toward the end of the section there was a blue clinical box, with new easy-to-navigate icons, covering related subjects such as hernia and variocele; finally, there was a yellow box called ‘The bottom line’, which contained a summary of key points including a short paragraph covering the inguinal canal, which was excellent.
Trying a second, quite different question: What is the role of popliteus in un-locking the knee? I knew to look under ‘Muscle’ in the index for this, which led me straight to the correct section in the text. There was a full description of the attachments of popliteus and coverage of its role in flexion and moving the lateral meniscus, followed by the more important role in unlocking the knee from the close-packed, extended position. However, as this was removed from the section explaining how the passive rotation occurs in extension, this fact was left somewhat hanging. Leafing back to the contents of the lower limb section, I eventually found the knee joint, somewhat hidden amongst blue boxes and tables, and there was a concise description of locking upon extension, but not of what features of the joint are involved in this mechanism.
The text seems to work best if a section is carefully read through from start to finish, but somewhat less well when jumped into to answer a pressing question. It will make excellent reading material prior to a class and, once the reader is familiar with it, it becomes much easier to navigate. This text is comprehensive and accurate and uses a range of different approaches to describe anatomical structures. I know that it suits many of my students, and it is generally preferred to a comparable text such as Gray’s Anatomy for Students.
I accessed the electronic online information at ‘thePoint’, which required registration but was quite straightforward. The entire, searchable contents of the book were available, as well as downloadable pdf files of self-test flashcards. Clinical scenario type questions were also available, and together these provide a useful means of accessing and using the textbook online.
Speaking to students and taking comments from them when they reviewed copies of the slimmed-down version of this textbook (Essential Clinical Anatomy) in 2008, it was clear that they preferred the more concise style of presentation present in that text, but this may be a reflection on the level of teaching. On balance I think that Clinically Oriented Anatomy is one of the better anatomy textbooks. The majority of students seem to find it very helpful and select either this or Essential Clinical Anatomy as their textbook of choice.