Clinical Diagnosis in Ophthalmology

Highly Commended, RSM Awards 2007



This book presents an encyclopedic visual catalogue of all clinical signs and symptoms in ophthalmology. It presents fully comprehensive coverage of all clinical conditions organised by region, starting with the front of the eye and working through to the retina in a very logical manner. The text is presented in a very readable and concise format, and is supplemented with over 2800 full colour clinical photographs of the highest quality. Virtually every condition (and variations within those conditions) has been illustrated.

Clinical Diagnosis in Ophthalmology encourages the practitioner to view the patient as a whole to aid with the differential diagnosis of systemic and ocular signs. It comprehensively covers all systemic diseases associated with the eye. The illustrations are enhanced with brief, bullet-point style text that follows a tightly controlled, template format for quick and easy reference.

Clinical Diagnosis in Ophthalmology provides an outstanding aid to clinical decision-making and practitioners will find the book very useful for matching conditions seen in the clinic. I will also be an ideal revision aid for examinations in ophthalmology. The book is also an extremely useful reference for all optometrists and primary care physicians.

Clinical Diagnosis in
Ophthalmology
Jack J Kanski
USA: Elsevier Mosby, 2006
601 pages, RPR $290.00
Reviewed by IAN S DOUGLAS,
Department of Optometry and Vision
Sciences, The University of Melbourne
E-mail:
[email protected]
Jack Kanski is well known in the area of
ophthalmic disease, having written numerous
excellent books over many years.
This first edition is an atlas rather than
a textbook and so does not include descriptions
of symptoms, treatment or any
information relating to differential diagnosis.
Each image has a brief descriptive
note.
The book is divided into 18 chapters
encompassing all aspects of ocular disease,
including congenital and inherited abnormalities,
trauma and strabismus. Each
chapter has a series of subheadings, under
which specific conditions with a number
of appropriate images are listed. For example,
in the chapter on eyelids one of
the 15 sub-headings is ‘Viral infections of
the lid’, which is further broken down into
the specific conditions of Herpes zoster
ophthalmicus, Herpes simplex and molluscum
contagiosum, with an excellent
selection of images for each condition.
The index lists all of these conditions,
allowing them to be easily found in the
body of the book. Where appropriate,
there are also images of the systemic disease
associated with the ocular condition.
The quality of reproduction of the
images is excellent and throughout the
book there are numerous high quality
drawings by the renowned ophthalmic artist
TR Tarrant. Where appropriate, there
are also images of supportive tests such as
X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, angiograms and
OCT scans.
The book includes a single-user CDROM
that has the images and their
descriptions in digital form. The CD-ROM
has all the images that are in the book and
includes a search function, which gives
quick and easy access. There is an export
function, which allows for the images to
be cut and pasted into documents and
presentations such as PowerPoint. Their
quality is more than adequate for use in a
PowerPoint presentation or slide-show.
The CD-ROM works well on PCs running
Windows 95 onwards. Unfortunately,
it required a little more skill to get it to
run on a Macintosh with OS9 or Classic,
and it is not possible to run it on the latest
Macintosh operating system Tiger, which
has been available in Australia for about
one year.
Both the book and CD-ROM are very
useful in a clinical setting for showing
patients the conditions they have. The CDROM
is an excellent source of images for
teaching purposes, with the images easily
exported into teaching presentations. The
only disadvantage is that it will not run on
the latest Macintosh computers. As a reference
book to help differentially diagnose
a condition, it is less useful, but it is
helpful in putting a name to a condition
by comparing the image with the patient’s
ocular features.