Shoulder and Elbow Trauma

From the Publisher

Each chapter describes treatment step by step, accompanied by many drawings in black and white. —European Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology

Reviewer: Benjamin A Goldberg, M.D.(University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine)
Description: This book describes current treatment of shoulder and elbow trauma.
Purpose: This is a technique oriented book, designed to enable a surgeon to read a chapter and treat shoulder and elbow injuries of variable severity and difficulty. These are worthy but somewhat unreasonable objectives, as surgeon experience and judgment are difficult to learn by only reading one chapter, especially if a surgeon is not familiar with either the anatomy, typical fracture patterns, or fixation methods that are commonly used.
Audience: "The book is written for orthopedic surgeons who treat shoulder and elbow trauma and is of sufficient detail to meet the needs of this audience. The authors are credible authorities. "
Features: The descriptions of elbow instability, radial head and capitellum fractures, olecranon fractures, sternnoclavicular fractures, and ORIF of proximal humerus fractures are very good. There are many good illustrations in most chapters. Although there is a very good description on sternoclavicular instability, there is minimal coverage on the more common glenohumeral instability. Additionally, there are no diagrams on plating of midshaft clavicle fractures. The chapters on soft tissue coverage about the elbow and shoulder/axilla would be insufficient for a surgeon with little or no experience on free or rotational flaps to safely perform some procedures and do not fit the purpose of the book. Additionally, more color illustrations and more descriptions in the legend of each figure would have been helpful. Additionally, some aspects of newer fixation methods (i.e. periarticular paltes) could have been expanded in regards to the instrumentation (i.e. beaded K-wires to provisionally hold fragments to the plate).
Assessment: The book is of above average quality and several chapters are especially useful. Several sections contain up-to-date material not found in competing textbooks, including the mention of periarticular elbow plating and proximal humeral locking plates, and the bibliography is good for a book of this size. However, some illustrations/photos are confusing with inadequate text descriptions. More importantly, the chapters on soft tissue coverage do not help the average surgeon who rarely encounters significant soft tissue loss, as the physician and patient may be better served by consulting someone familiar with these procedures. Additionally, the detail in these chapters may be insufficient for those who are familiar with challenges in soft tissue coverage.

3 Stars from Doody