Editors and Authors: Robert E. Greer, DDS; Robert E. Marx, DDS; Sherif Said, MD; and Lori D. Prok, MD
Publisher: Cambridge University Press – 595 pages
Book Review by: Nano Khilnani
The anatomic region of the head and neck is one of the most convoluted ones in the human body, and one of the most highly intricate and complex ones for pathologists and surgeons, who need to also be aware of the physiology and pathology of this region.
Now imagine mastering the detailed anatomic, physiologic, and pathologic information when you’re diagnosing, treating and / or performing surgery in the head and neck area of a small child, where what you see and need to work on is even smaller.
This region needs “to be viewed in a comprehensive and integrated organ system fashion rather than a set of separate and unique anatomic sites,” write the four editors of this book (named above) in the Preface of this book published in 2017.
Like most other specialties and subspecialties in medicine, there has been an information explosion in pediatric head and neck pathology in the last few decades. While the bad news is that this development entails many more hours of study and research for medical students, residents, and practitioners, the good news is that more information has created clearer understanding and more effective treatment options available. An added benefit is that technological advances have made diagnosis and treatment easier.
The editors point out that several decades ago, there were only a handful of medical journals on head and neck pathology but today there are dozens of them in this specialty. But as the information on head and neck pathology has grown dramatically, especially in the last forty years or so (since the late 1970s), there has been a need to present all or most of it together in a single text. This book was published to fill that need.
This book is a comprehensive reference source on pediatric head and neck pathology in patients up to the age of 21. It is described on its back cover as one wherein the “chapters take a clinico-pathologic approach, offering insight into the pathobiology, diagnosis and treatment of both common and rare disorders. Imaging studies and immunohistochemical techniques are discussed alongside accepted and emerging molecular tools.” So some of the important topics discussed in at are: odontogenic tumors and cysts, as well as diseases and disorders in the salivary gland.
An overview of the coverage of subjects is presented here below with the titles of its chapters:
- Diagnostic Methods and Specimen Handling Techniques in Pediatric Surgical Pathology
- Soft Tissue Tumors and Reactive and Inflammatory Lesions of the Oral Cavity and Head and Neck
- Cutaneous Tumors and Pseudotumors of the Head and Neck
- Mucocutaneous Pigmented Lesions, Nevi and Melanoma
- Vesiculo-Erosive and Ulcerative Lesions of the Oral Cavity and Skin
- Oral Epithelial Neoplasms
- Odontogenic and Non-Odontogenic Cysts
- Odontogenic Tumors
- Non-Neoplastic Diseases of the Salivary Glands
- Benign Neoplasms of the Salivary Glands
- Malignant Neoplasms of the Salivary Glands
- Non-Neoplastic Disorders of the Nasal Cavity: Paranasal Sinuses and Nasopharynx
- Benign Neoplasms of the Nasal Cavity, Paranasal Sinuses, and Nasopharynx
- Malignant Neoplasms of the Nasal Cavity, Paranasal Sinuses, and Nasopharynx
- Disorders of the Larynx and Hypopharynx
- Neoplasms of Bone and Fibro-Osseous Lesions of the Cranofacial Skeleton
- Disorders of the Ear
- Disorders of the Thyroid Gland and Parathyroid Glands
- Reactive and Malignant Diseases of Hematopoeitic and Lymphoid Tissues
- Developmental and Syndromic Disturbances of the Cranofacial Region
In addition to the large amount of content in this book of nearly 600 pages, purchasers get individual access to its online version as well. Simply go to the inside front cover, scratch off the coating to reveal the access code, then go to www.cambridge.org/core/access-codes and follow the step-by-step instructions.
Images make a book more useful and easier to absorb and retain the information presented, and on that score, this book deserves an ‘A’ because there are plenty and varied: full-color micrographs of diseases, photographs of patients and their disorders, radiographs of cysts and other conditions, as well as biopsy specimens, computed tomography (CT) scans, and data tables
All in all, this is a unique book that represents a pioneering effort of six individuals named below, who have painstaking put together a massive amount of important and useful information in text and visual forms, in the rapidly-growing field of pediatric head and neck pathology.
Editors:
Robert E. Greer, DDS, ScD is Professor in the Departments of Pathology, Medicine, and Dermatology in the School of Medicine, and Professor and Chairman in the Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology at the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado.
Robert E. Marx, DDS is Professor in the Department of Surgery, and Chief of the Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine in Miami, Florida
Sherif Said, MD, PhD is Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado, and is Pathologist at Denver Health Medical Center in Denver, Colorado.
Lori D. Prok, MD is Associate Professor in the Departments of Dermatology and Pathology in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado. She is also a Pediatric Dermatopathologist at Children’s Hospital in Aurora, Colorado.
Contributors:
Jeffrey Schowinsky, MD is Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado.
Zenggang Pan, MD, PhD is Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado.
