Complications of Cataract Surgery: A Manual. BruceNoble and IanSimmons. Boston: Butterworth‐Heinemann, 2001. Pages: 108. Price: 80. 00. ISBN 0‐7506‐4799‐X.

Complications of Cataract Surgery: A Manual. Bruce Noble and Ian Simmons. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001. Pages: 108. Price: 80. 00. ISBN 0-7506-4799-X. The authors hope to achieve “a practical approach to the complications of cataract surgery” for the beginning eye surgeon. To this end, they have achieved their goal admirably. This is a thin volume (only 108 pages including the index) as befits a manual. Textbooks on cataract surgery, like most areas of medicine, run the risk of being outdated even before they are published. This book, however, is focused on the prevention, recognition, and treatment of surgical complications in a way that will be helpful long after the details of cataract removal and lens replacement have changed substantially. It is a solid review of the basic concepts of cataract surgery. As such, its value to an experienced ophthalmic surgeon will be as a review. This book amply fulfills its stated goal as a primer for the beginning student or resident involved in ophthalmic surgery. In addition, I think this would be an excellent reference for an ophthalmic scrub nurse or technician. The book is divided into three parts: Routine Cataract Surgery, Managing Surgical Difficulties and Complications, and The Doctor-Patient Relationship and Medicolegal Matters. The book is richly illustrated with over 140 color photographs and line drawings. The text is also enhanced by the use of tables summarizing important concepts. A concise section on preoperative evaluation reviews most of the key issues. The review of surgical risk assessment is particularly well done. The section on ocular anesthesia is amply illustrated, although a diagram of the cross-sectional anatomy of the eye and orbit would be helpful to the novice. Basic surgical maneuvers for routine cataract surgery are discussed in enough detail for the beginning surgeon; the drawings are particularly helpful. This text offers an introduction to most of the important intraoperative and postoperative complications of cataract surgery including endophthalmitis, choroidal hemorrhage, vitreous loss, lens subluxation, and elevation of intraocular pressure, as well as many more. The description of the repair of a separation in Descemet's membrane is excellent. A number of representative case studies are presented to illustrate important points and I found these very helpful. The authors are British and readers in the United States will recognize the use of additional vowels in the text along with some interesting terminology (cortical toilet!). I would overlook these minor distractions because the overall tone of the text is quite readable. In fact, the book reads as if one is looking over the shoulder of an experienced surgeon as he or she examines patients and performs surgery. As such, Complications of Cataract Surgery: A Manual will be particularly valuable to ophthalmology residents preparing to tackle their first surgical cases and optometry students who are involved in preoperative and postoperative management of patients undergoing cataract surgery.