J. E. Zuther: Lymphedema management: comprehensive guide for practitioners, Thieme, Stuttgart, New York 2005, Hard cover, pp 270 (ISBN 3-13-139481-1), $110.00 USD

Excerpt

Lymphology often has been called the “step-child” of medicine. Sir Harald Gillies, one of the founders of modern plastic and reconstructive surgery [1] used to say: plastic surgeons take care of what others have thrown into the “medical waste basket”. For example—today Cecil’s classic “Textbook of Medicine” (21st edition, Saunders, 2000) contains no chapter on diseases of the lymphatic system. Nevertheless the step-child lymphology, for decades, provides a great deal of fascination in the plastic surgery community [1, 2]. Medical knowledge is forever changing and progressing, from initial scientific ignorance to new horizons. This book certainly demonstrates this in the care of patients with lymphedema problems. Specifically, it not only explains and teaches, it also encourages the search for tomorrow’s progress. Thus, this text is much more than a cook-book or a manual on “how it must be done”. It is an up-to-date text on lymphedema and all of its many relevant problems. It also addresses itself to the interested nonmedical reader, who perhaps is concerned with his own lymphedema or that of a relative or friend. …