This is an outstanding practical guide to head, neck, thyroid and parathyroid surgery for the trainee starting in the head and neck rotations but also preparing for board college exams such as the MRCS, FRCS or the EBEORL. The authors have made this a very easy-to-read practical guide to head and neck surgery. It will be an invaluable tool in learning to approach practical problems in the real clinical world and obtaining the structured knowledge and approach for postgraduate exams.
The first two chapters address practical anatomy, differential diagnosis and imaging techniques. The third one is on perioperative care, principally addressing all the co-morbidity issues often facing head and neck patients. The rest of the text addresses all the relevant head and neck sites and includes congenital paediatric pathology, and finally a chapter on head and neck reconstruction.
This is a true practical guide. The chapters are systematically well structured, with relevant flowchart algorithms to clinical problems e.g. neck lumps and occult primary, tables such as differential diagnosis and TNMs and diagrams. They have also added some relevant images and although not many, they cover all the relevant points.
All chapters follow a similar structure, starting with anatomy followed by differential diagnosis, evaluation, pathology and management of the relevant benign and malignant conditions. The book is also evidence based with up-to-date, well-chosen references.
The layout of this book and the way in which it has been structured means it would be extremely easy to update and even to be converted to an app for the resident junior staff.
Overall, an excellent and highly recommended book that provides a great introduction to head and neck surgery and, as stated by the authors, will provide a gateway to the more heavyweight reference textbooks.
