Deadly Dermatologic Diseases: Clinicopathologic Atlas and Text

The book deals with dermatologic diseases involving serious cutaneous malignancies. The sections are organized alphabetically and color-coded. Approximately 40 disease states are discussed with accompanying full-color clinical and microscopic photography. Each entity contains a single clinical photograph accompanied by three photomicrographs detailing the diagnostic features of each case. Subsections detailing disease prognosis are presented in a bullet-style. The pedagogical value of this book is its unique presentation of a variety of dermatologic entities capable of leading to serious medical consequences including death.

The central theme of Deadly Dermatologic Diseases book entails disorders capable of directly or indirectly causing death of the patient. The book will be organized around four sections dealing with dermatologic diseases involving serious cutaneous malignancies including melanoma; life-threatening and/or emerging infectious pathogens including anthrax and smallpox; endocrinologic disorders such as myxedema or calciphylaxis; autoimmune disorders and inborn errors of metabolism such as scleroderma and hemochromatosis. The sections are organized alphabetically and color-coded for easy reference. Approximately 40 disease states are discussed with accompanying full-color clinical and microscopic photography. Each entity contains a single clinical photograph accompanied by three photomicrographs detailing the diagnostic features of each case. Subsections detailing the demographic attributes, etiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, pathologic features, diagnostic adjuncts, treatment, and prognosis with a current bibliography of each disease state are presented in a succinct bullet-style manner.

The pedagogical value of Deadly Dermatologic Diseases is the unique presentation of a variety of dermatologic entities capable of directly leading to or are associated with serious medical consequences, including death. As these entities present in a variety of clinical and pathologic guises or represent emerging pathogens such as anthrax or smallpox, it is important that clinicians and pathologists are appraised of these important public health concerns.

The accompanying CD-ROM contains a multimedia atlas, containing every figure and figure legend in the book. With both a "review" and "test" mode, the user will have an excellent tool for self-evaluation and practice for certification exams.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Renata H. Mullen, MD(Palo Alto Medical Foundation)
Description:This book offers a review of a wide variety of dermatologic disorders that can lead to death of the patient. Each disease entity begins with a summary table for quick reference.
Purpose:The aim is to fill a void in dermatologic literature addressing deadly disorders. This is a worthy goal, which is, for the most part, met by the authors.
Audience:It is written for dermatologists, pathologists, and general practitioners, as well as dermatology and pathology residents and appears to be appropriate for that audience.
Features:The book is divided into five sections covering cutaneous neoplasms, cancer-predisposition syndromes and paraneoplastic disorders, infections, autoimmune and metabolic diseases, and vascular disorders. What is best about the book is that it is concise and portable, yet thorough. It is the most complete book on this subject available, as it covers not only dermatologic emergencies, but also disorders which are not acute, yet failure to recognize them may nevertheless cause death. A useful feature of the book is the way each entity is preceded by a bullet summary of clinical and histologic features, etiology, diagnostic tests, and treatment. Because the authors are pathologists as well as dermatologists, there are excellent histologic illustrations and descriptions. The only shortcoming of the book might be that more clinical photos might have been useful in a few chapters. The authors also state that due to space constraints, they did not include several entities that are rarely capable of causing death or are extremely uncommon. A one-page list of diseases in these two categories would be a nice touch for the sake of completeness.
Assessment:This book will prove valuable for residents just learning dermatology as well for busy clinicians needing a quick reminder of disease characteristics or associations. It is more up to date with better color illustrations than another book in the field, Life-threatening Dermatoses, Krusinski and Flowers (Mosby, 1987), as that was published so long ago. Another similar book, Emergency Dermatology: A Rapid Treatment Guide, Fleischer et al. (McGraw-Hill, 2002), covers common disorders seen in the emergency room rather than those which are deadly.