Book Description

Patients with rheumatic diseases frequently exhibit a multiplicity of clinical and radiographic signs. The ability to correctly interpret these clues to diagnosis is an invaluable clinical skill, and an essential component of diagnostic decision making. This book is designed as a pictorial guide to clinical rheumatology and illustrates the principal clinical and radiographic signs of many musculoskeletal disorders. It is intended to supplement the more factual types of information found in standard textbooks and to provide the reader with a visual experience equivalent to that of several years in clinical practice. The two initial chapters on history and physical examination are incorporated to provide a construct within which the relevance of subsequent sections can be viewed. The disease-oriented chapters which form the majority of the text illustrate many of the more complex problems encountered in routine rheumatologic practice. Descriptions of several rare and unusual conditions, of particular clinical importance, have been included in the final chapter. It is the author's hope that this atlas will appeal to family practitioners, trainees in both rheumatology and general medicine, and senior medical students, as well as serve as a teaching resource for the general physician and specialty rheumatologist. Whether read chapter by chapter or used purely as a reference text it is intended to be kept on hand both in the clinic and on the ward.