Endoscopic Laser Surgery Handbook

classes contains detailed information on the history of development of the drug, chemistry, mechanism of action, mechanism of resistance, spectrum and degree of antimicrobial activity, pharmacology, toxicity and adverse effects, drug interactions, drug monitoring (if necessary), and therapeutic indications. It is a strength of such a multi-authored text that there is good and consistent chapter organization and exhaustive references. Information is up to date, with references to 1986 and thorough treatment of newer agents such as the DNA-Gyrase inhibitors and the newer cephalosporins. On the other hand, certain agents that have not yet been approved for use in children, such as azidothymidine (AZT), amdinocillin, imipenem, and ampicil-lin/sulbactam, are not even mentioned. Thus the pediatric orientation of this volume is clear. It is different from more general antibiotic texts, such as Garrod, Lambert, and O'Grady's Antibiotic and Chemotherapy, in reducing the scope to pediatrics but providing much more in the way of approach to specifically pediatric drug issues. In addition, this volume is not a substitute for a pediatric infectious diseases text such as Textbook ofPediatric Infectious Diseases by Feigin and Cherry, in which antibiotics are given relatively less space but diseases are treated comprehensively. Not only are diseases approached from the narrow focus of drug treatment in the text by Koren, Prober, and Gold, but recommendations for treatment by disease offer little more than "handbook" lists of empiric treatment. Other limitations of this volume include the 15-page index, which is much less complete than one would expect from such a detailed book. Trying to find information about the treatment of specific diseases from the index is difficult; brain abscess, liver abscess, pharyngitis, and streptococcus, for example, are not listed. The index could certainly use improvement for the second edition. This volume is an excellent resource for a limited audience. Coverage of antimicro-bial agents is appropriate for the serious student of these drugs, and its value would be less for those with more general interests. It is probably not worth the investment for the general pediatrician, who would do better with a comprehensive infectious diseases text. The specialist in adult infectious diseases would be unlikely to require this volume of detail about antimicrobial drug use in children, although some of the general chapters would be as acceptable as any in the adult-oriented texts. This book is strongly recommended for the personal libraries of pediatric infectious disease specialists and especially for postdoctoral …