Diagnosis of Bone and Joint Diseases. Volume 5

Author: Resnick
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2002-08-01
Features: ThenewmillenniumandrightonschedulecomesthefourtheditionofDiagnosisofBoneandJointorders. This, then, isthethirdtimeIhaverevisedthistextsinceitsinitialpublicationin1981,morethan2decadesago. EachtimeIhavebegunworkonanewedition, Ibe-lievedincorrectlythatmyjobwouldbeeasier because, Ithought, howmuchinformationcouldpossiblyhavebeenintroducedinthe5or6yearsthathadelapsedsincethepreviousedition? Andeachtime, withoutex-ception, Ihavebeensurprisedbytheprogressthathasoccurredwithregardtothefurtherunderstandingandimproveddiagnosticassessmentofthemanydiseasesthataffectthemusculoskeletalsystem. So now, 7 years after the publication of the third edition, the fourth edition is offered as clear evidence that much has been learned, new concepts have emerged, and "old facts" have been modified or eliminated altogether. I am often asked at the time of publication of a new edition precisely how much of the material is appearing for the first time. This is a difficult question to answer quantitatively. My educated guess is that 30 percent of the information is new or has been modified significantly from that contained in the third edition, that the number of references has been expanded by 25 to 35 percent (with emphasis given to pertinent recent publications), and that new illustrations represent 25 to 30 percent of the total number appearing in this edition. With regard to the illustrative material, the new figures underscore the increasing importance of MRI as a vehicle for investigation of these diseases. The size of the fourth edition does not differ significantly from that of the last edition, although the number of volumes has been decreased by one. (You will notethateachissomewhatheavierthaninthepast!) To be certain that this multivolume book did not become too large, I consulted extensively with the following changes.