Urologic Surgery: Diagnosis, Techniques and Postoperative Treatment

This large volume, translated from German, is a remarkable atlas of urologic surgery. It is profusely illustrated with drawings of the step-by-step technique of most common and uncommon urologic operations. There are 1,196 drawings, all good, and the emphasis is definitely on the pictorial description of surgical procedures. There are, for example, 24 illustrations in the section on bladder diverticulectomy, 24 for partial nephrectomy, and 21 drawings of the steps in radical nephrectomy. All endoscopic surgery is omitted. There is very little pediatric urologic surgery, and renal transplantation is not mentioned. The text is brief, and the authors presume that the reader has a background in anatomy and surgery. Indications for various procedures, preoperative preparation, postoperative care, and the avoidance and management of complications are discussed briefly and interestingly, but there is no attempt to make such discussions thorough. One detects some curious philosophical differences between European and American surgeons,