Editors: Scott J. Gilbert and Daniel E. Weiner: Associate Editors: Debbie S. Gipson, Mark A. Perazella, and Marcello Tonelli
Publisher: Elsevier Saunders – 646 pages
Book Review by: Nano Khilnani
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With 122 physicians and medical educators from the United States, Canada and Europe contributing to this volume, this is an authoritative and highly valuable book and online resource in the field of nephrology, including particularly the physiology and process of disease in kidneys.
This book is meant for students, residents, fellows and practicing nephrologists and surgeons. The eighth edition of this book which was first published in 1993 features many changes and improvements, among which are:
• Chapters on kidney development, assessment of kidney function, onconephrology and transplant infectious disease have been added
• Content on acute kidney injury, transplant medicine, and the kidney in the elderly has been expanded
• Specific details on glomerular filtration rate estimation, biomarkers in kidney disease, and recently described pathologic targets in membranous nephropathy, minimal change disease, and viral nephropathies ensure that this Primer remains current, accurate, and practical.
• Suggested readings have been updated to direct readers to additional material.
A wealth of information in the field of nephrology is available to you in 67 chapters organized around 12 sections in this nearly 650-page book.
To give you an overview of the subjects that are covered in this extensive book and online resource, we name below the titles of the sections:
1. Structure and Function of the Kidneys and their Clinical Assessment
2. Acid-Base, Fluid, and Electrolyte Disorders
3. Glomerular Diseases
4. The Kidneys in Systemic Disease
5. Acute Kidney Injury
6. Drugs and the Kidney
7. Hereditary Kidney Disorders
8. Tubulointerstitial Nephropathies and Disorders of the Urinary Tract
9. The Kidney in Special Circumstances
10. Chronic Kidney Disease and Its Therapy
11. Kidney Replacement Therapies: Dialysis and Transplantation
12. Hypertension
Many visual features are provided in the book for the readers to understand better the various subjects and topics presented in various chapters of this book. Data is presented in tables, anatomical drawings are illustrated in figures, microscopic images are depicted in photos, various chemical and physiological functions and of the kidneys are shown in charts, and mathematical formulas are written in plain text form.
At the end of each chapter is a Bibliography listing various sources of information for further exploration and study by the user.
In my opinion this is an outstanding textbook on the study kidney function and disease. All the editors and contributors deserve applause for producing such a valuable resource.
Scott J. Gilbert, MD is associate professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, and is affiliated with the Division of Nephrology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
Daniel E. Weiner, MD, MS is assistant professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, and is affiliated with the Division of Nephrology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
Debbie S. Gipson, MD, MS is associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan School of Medicine in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Mark A. Perazella, MD, MS is professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine, and is affiliated with the Section of Nephrology at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut.
Marcello Tonelli, MD, SM is professor of medicine at University of Alberta, and is affiliated with Alberta Kidney Disease Network in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
