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Handbook of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Spine Procedures

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center Winston-Salem, NC 27157

Edited by Alan L. Williams and F. Reed Murtagh. St. Louis: Mosby, 268 pp., 2002. $49.95

If you would like to review books for AJR, please send a cover letter stating your interest with a current curriculum vitae to Assistant Editor for Book Reviews, AJR, 101 S. Stratford Rd., Ste. 303, Winston-Salem, NC 27104.

The preface to the Handbook of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Spine Procedures states that this book was designed to serve as a handy reference guide for physicians performing these procedures. This purpose has been achieved. The handbook has 14 authors, including neuroradiologists, musculoskeletal radiologists, and an anesthesiologist, from both private practice and university settings, who contributed to the 11 chapters. The style is fairly uniform throughout the book because the same standardized outline format is used by each author, although a few authors combined sections to improve readability.

The chapter topics include epidural steroid injections, spinal nerve blocks, pulsed radio-frequency techniques, facet and sacroiliac joint blocks, intraspinal cyst aspiration, myelography, percutaneous needle biopsy, vertebroplasty, diskography, automated percutaneous lumbar diskectomy, and intradiskal electrothermal therapy. Of note is the absence of a discussion about kyphoplasty, and only the automated percutaneous diskectomy is discussed. The greater risk of intravascular injection into the cervical epidural space (and subsequent complications) is not stressed. Otherwise, this handbook is complete.

Each chapter contains an outline about the rationale and clinical indications, contraindications, informed consent (complications), pertinent anatomy, equipment, sedation, procedure step-by-step guide, care after a procedure, reporting, and coding. The chapters are appropriately illustrated with clear, easy-to-understand diagrams. The sections about current procedural terminology (CPT) coding will be helpful for anyone who is trying to add new CPT codes for procedures, a daunting task otherwise. I should note (thanks to our coding and billing manager, Donna Raymond), one CPT code has been omitted, and two codes have been incorrectly defined. In chapter 2, "Spinal Nerve Blocks," CPT code 64440 should have been included; moreover, CPT code 64479 should be defined as the code to use for cervical or thoracic injection and CPT code 64483, for lumbar injection.

I found the book easy to read. Surprisingly little information is repeated, but I had to search through the chapters to find information about the steroids and anesthetics used. The chapters about epidural injections, spine biopsy, and cyst aspiration describe multiple approaches, which is particularly helpful because most other textbooks illustrate only the author's preferred approach.

The book's target audience is clearly for radiologists, although I suspect that physicians from all specialties will embrace its easy-to-use style. The softcover book has a coating giving a quality feel and will hopefully stand up to repeated use. I believe that neuroradiology and musculoskeletal radiology fellows and anesthesia residents will have great use for this book. Staff radiologists who perform these procedures will also find the quick reference handy.

Textbooks for pain management and control have traditionally been written by anesthesiologists and provide more information about the background and theory behind pain management than possible in a procedure-oriented handbook. Competing books include Musculoskeletal Imaging: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures (S. Karger, 1997), which costs $98; Pain Procedures in Clinical Practice, second edition (Hanley & Belfus, 2000), which costs $79; Atlas of Interventional Pain Management (Saunders, 1998), which costs $195 in hardback; and Atlas of Pain Management Injection Techniques (Saunders, 2000), which costs $155 in hardback.

The Handbook of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Spine Procedures would be an excellent addition to anyone's library and would be used frequently, particularly by those in training programs.

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This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Boles, C. A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Boles, C. A. Social Bookmarking                      What's this?