Description

Clinical Pharmacology for Anaesthetists
Ed – JG Bovill & MB Howie
ISBN 0-7020-2167-9

In the preface the authors, both Professors of Anaesthesia, claim the book is intermediate in scope between an undergraduate text and an authoritative pharmacological reference work. I suppose that is what the advertising world calls ‘niche marketing’. This first edition contains 400 pages of text in 5 sections with 29 chapters. The sections are fairly conventionally divided into – basic principles, drugs acting on the CNS, on the peripheral nervous system, CVS pharmacology and finally an ‘all comers’ category of ‘other systems and special topics’. The chapters are well laid out with a clear text font and lovely line diagrams that are appropriately placed in the text. Extensive use is made of summary boxes and tables all in the blue, white and black style that is used throughout the book. Although most of the chapters follow the convention of basic pharmacology and physiology progressing to clinical application, the writing styles vary somewhat between the chapters, from the more narrative in ‘histamine and histamine antagonists’ to the much more structured in ‘antiarrhythmic drugs’. The latter is my favourite, making use of all the techniques mentioned above to help clarify what is essentially quite a complex topic. There are 52 contributors listed, with many well recognised names (often as second authors) as well as several that one knows were trainees working with the ‘names’. As with most multi-author books this leads to some degree of repetition, atrial natriuretic factor and atrial natriuretic peptide are separately and confusingly mentioned in at least four different places. The major problem I have with the book is with the original aim. Having started well with the early sections, some of the chapters would almost stand on their own as reference works, for example the 11 pages on calcium entry blockers. The last 12 chapters however become increasingly abbreviated with, in the last, the whole of the pharmacology of ageing, pregnancy and the fetus also being dealt with in 11 pages. Finally, having been asked to review in the latter half of 2001 a book published in October 1999 means that much of the bibliography is out of date. The latest references I could find were 1997, most are pre-1996.

Review by:
Dr Atul Kapila
Consultant in Anaesthesia and
Intensive Care
Royal Berkshire Hospital
Reading
RG1 5AN