Reviewer: Edward Abraham, MD (University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine)
Description: This is the second edition of a book on orthopedic operations, accompanied by an ebook version with over 80 surgical videos.
Purpose: The purpose is to provide a multimedia resource for orthopedists to access general information about specific disorders or injuries with an emphasis on patient selection and step-by-step descriptions of how to perform a surgical correction.
Audience: The primary audience is orthopedic surgeons and trainees.
Features: The eight sections cover 118 surgical procedures in sports medicine, shoulder and elbow, hand and wrist, adult reconstruction, trauma, foot and ankle, spine, and pediatrics. This compares to 107 in the first edition. Each chapter emphasizes patient selection, preoperative imaging, the procedure, complications, postoperative care and rehabilitation, and pearls. Intraoperative color photographs, radiographs, and line drawings of good quality dominate each chapter. The authors include two general editors, nine section editors, and about 230 knowledgeable contributors.
Assessment: This book represents a tour de force production by the behemoth of medical education worldwide, The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). The association uses a three-pronged approach to produce and propagate this current and cutting-edge multimedia work. First, the experienced publication department supported by electronic media programs and art production department enhance the quality of the chapters. Second, the AAOS has over 19,000 regular fellows and associate members plus another 19,500 resident candidates, international, and emeritus members (as of 2016) from which to recruit the highly qualified authors, and, third, the AAOS has a captured international audience to circulate this resource. All this being said, it remains a challenge to sell this book to subspecialists. For example, the chapters are divided into eight subspecialties, and the spine section has only 11 topic chapters with a total of 74 pages out of 1,000 pages. However, general orthopedic surgeons and orthopedic residents who have a broader scope of interest than subspecialists are strongly encouraged to purchase this outstanding book. Medical libraries are encouraged to get it for their reference section.
