Atlas of Vitreous Biomicroscopy Charles L. Schepens, Clement L. Trempe, Masataka Takahashi, eds. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. 1999. Pages: 149. Price: 75. 00. ISBN 0-7506-7052-5. With 12 contributors and at least 157 figures, this handsome volume marks a milestone in the archives of vitreous abnormalities. The preface reminds me of the Porsche advertisement that shows the latest model and simply states, “This is what we know so far. ” Begun as a quest to synthesize a surrogate vitreous nearly 50 years ago, efforts turned to characterizing the clinical appearance and behavior of the vitreous over the past 20-odd years. This atlas is the summary of those findings. Any book compiled by contributors reflects the style differences among them and this text is no exception. Any unevenness, however, is easily balanced by the consistency of the figure captions. The editors’ signature is evident although no chapter bears either Dr. Schepens or Dr. Trempe's byline. The quality of the figures, mostly color, is excellent. High-resolution film and preset plus lenses were used for most of the images. This atlas proceeds in a logical fashion, with preparation, documentation, and examination technique chapters making up the first section. The overview of anatomy and procedure is complete, even detailed for an atlas. For readers comfortable with these aspects of the vitreous, the final two thirds of the book will be of greater interest. Part II covers degenerative changes, opacities, vascular changes, retinal breaks, uveitis, macular diseases, and tumors. These topically diverse chapters are consistent in the excellent clinical representation of the vitreous in disease states. The arrows and companion drawings crystallize concepts and clarify clinical appearances. The figures alone are worth the price of the book, as it should be with any worthwhile atlas. I always tell my interns and residents that the best way to understand the vitreous is to understand vitreoretinal anatomy and to use their imaginations. By reviewing the figures in this atlas, a reader should appreciate the true nature of the normal and abnormal vitreous and vitreoretinal relationships. Read it, and you, too, will discover some new vitreous connections. Who needs a book that is dedicated is to “… young ophthalmologists from all over the world who work with great enthusiasm to improve our clinical knowledge of eye disease …”? If you have an interest in vitreoretinal relationships and desire to understand more about them, then overlook this apparent slight and make this atlas a part of your library. This would be an excellent resource for anyone who is a student of the vitreous; I am a self-described “vitreous nut” and I truly enjoyed reading it. If I were to nit-pick, I could mention that the book runs out of gas in the last chapter, Tumors. The text is a single page followed by half a dozen pages with two to three figures each. Or I might note that the OD and OS designations appear with their translations late in the text. But that would take away from the message and utility of the book. I think it's easy to overlook some of the assembly glitches and think of this book as the quintessential contemporary vitreous resource.
Leo Semes (Tue,) studied this question.
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