The Revolution in Medical Imaging

This book features the breakthroughs in medical science that have led to the development of new scanning and diagnostic tools such as CAT, PET, and MRI scans. Doctors can now precisely define the location of a tumor or the degree to which blood flow is restricted in a tiny artery. As a result, the diagnosis of illness has become much more accurate.

Reviewed with Sandra Giddens and Owen Giddens' Future Techniques in Surgery.

Gr. 6-9. Tied to health and science curricula, books in the Library of Future Medicine series are made to order for reports. Surgery takes readers from the days when the cure for a headache was making a hole in the skull to the modern surgical suite before speculating on what's to come. It's the less technical of these two volumes, as well as the most interesting, with only a few macabre specifics. There's also a nod to ethical questions. Moe's text is drier, subject notwithstanding, but the author does a commendable job of explaining the workings of some very complicated diagnostic equipment--from X rays to nuclear imaging--without overdoing technicalities. She also makes clear some of the risks and advantages of the procedures. The series design isn't particularly inviting. The illustrations, a few in each volume, are well chosen (no gruesome shots), but, despite generous leading, the narrow margins and the enlarged, bold typeface make the text seem unnecessarily daunting and hard on the eye. A bibliography and Web sites are among appended materials. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved