Inside Ultrasound: Vascular Reference Guide

Just published!
Terry Reynolds calls Inside Ultrasound's Vascular Reference Guide a masterpiece. He's right. The life's work of one of the most respected authorities in the field, it is painstakingly and gorgeously illustrated, bristling with facts, figures, formulas, conversion tables, correlative data, and other information that cannot easily be found elsewhere. What are the cardiac effects on spectral Doppler waveforms in the presence of conditions such as Paget's disease, atrial fibrillation, or sickle cell anemia among many others? See Table 133 in the chapter devoted to this topic. What are the normal values, flow characteristics, and terminal beds of the extracranial vessels? Table 7. You will also find detailed protocols for direct and indirect vascular exams, comprehensive diagnostic criteria, differential diagnosis, correlative studies and data, and medical, surgical, and interventional treatment.

So, yes, this spiral-bound full-color book has what you would expect. It is a comprehensive, easy-to-follow vascular reference containing more than 163 reference tables and 950 illustrations and images. It is very well formatted for quick reference. It is indexed. It does contain extras such as the official SVU glossary of vascular terminology. It is SVU-approved for 20 hours of CME credit acceptable to ARDMS, ARRT, CCI, and most accrediting organizations.

But here, in addition to what you can count on finding, is a lifetime of priceless hints, tips, observations, little-known facts, and clinical pearls. There is also a lifetime's perspective that I have not seen before in quite this way, chapters and tables that gather and organize the usual into unusual and eye-opening associations, topics that ordinarily would not be covered but are, and in satisfying ways. Browsing the Vascular Reference Guide is a joy not unlike that of browsing an encyclopedia or following a string of Google hits and threads into enchanted territory. It opens one's eyes. It ties things together.

The authors haven't stopped there. One of the most exciting features of the book is the use of Quick Response (QR) Codes. Scan the embedded codes with your mobile device to connect with online images and videos. You can use your mobile device to access website-based updates to the book anywhere, any time. No charge.

My opinion? Not to own this book is to be, well, not serious about your professional library. Buy it. You will not be disappointed. In fact, I guarantee it.

---Michael Davies