Book Review , .

Clinical Guide to Laboratory Tests. 3rd edition. Norbert

W. Tietz, ed. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1995. 1 I36
pages. Softcover. $39.95.

This is the third edition of the Clinical Guide to Lnibo-
rutory Tesrs edited by Norbert W. Tietz. Since its first
edition in 1983, this useful handbook has increased in size
and is now well over 1000 pages, with 46 contributors. It
is meant as a ready reference for both clinicians and
laboratorians to laboratory tests; it covers their use and
interpretation and is cross-indexed between a Test Index
and Disease Index. The major portion of the book is de-
voted to general clinical tests, presented alphabetically
and in tabular form. The entry for each test includes the
test name and method, specimen requirements, reference
range, chemical interferences (if any), diagnostic infor-
mation, and remarks, each given in concise paragraphs.
There are appropriate references for each test as well as
a list of other publications for summary reading. The
section on general clinical tests includes 2265 support-
ing references divided into major categories ranging from
amino acids and blood banks to vitamins. Blood bank-
ing references include most of the basic texts in the field,
the Technical Manual, and Stundurds for Blood Bunks
and Transfusion Services.
In addition to the exhaustive listing of laboratory tests,
there are short sections on molecular pathology, therapeu-
tic drugs, and microbiology. The section on molecular
pathology is an abbreviated summary of techniques and
applications in the molecular genetics of disease, infec-
tious disease testing, molecular oncology, and identity
testing. The section on therapeutic drugs is reminiscent
of an abbreviated Merck Index. The microbiology section
is a summary of specimen acquisition and preservation,
the characteristics of organisms, and the diseases they
produce. There are summary tables for quick reference
on subjects such as panel testing, lymphocyte phenotypes,
serologic tests versus disease progression in hepatitis A,
B, and C, and basic hematology.
This book is meant as a quick reference for the labo-
ratory medicine professional who is providing telephone
consultation and interpretation on hundreds of tests in all
areas of the laboratory. It is also a complete source for
clinicians who are ordering tests and trying to interpret
the results. Hospital medical libraries and general pa-
thologists should be encouraged to have this book on their
shelf. It is useful for all levels of training, and it limits
the number of other texts that would be needed to cover
the general laboratory. Because this book covers the en-
tire laboratory, its contributions to transfusion medicine
practice are limited, but that should not discourage its use.
There are useful summaries of disease testing that are of
interest to blood bankers, such as testing for coagulopa-
thies, hematologic diseases, and classification of lym-
phomas.
CAROLA. BELL,M D
Brormnn Mediccil Center
Ciilver City, CA 90231 -2459

Book Received r ’ - r

Autologous Marrow and Blood Transplantation. Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium, Ar-
lington, Texas. Dicke KA, Keating A, eds. Arlington, Texas: The Cancer Treatment Research and Educational Insti-
tute, 1995. 770 pages; softcover, $30.00.

Cohen JA, Brecher ME. Preoperative autologous blood donation: benefit or detriment? A mathematical analysis.
Transfusion I995;35:640-4.
We regret that errors occurred in Equation 3 in the Materials and Methods section and in the equation in the Results
section of the article (page 641). These equations should have appeared as follows:
Materials and Methods Results
One can take the antilog- of both sides and rearrange the Such EBLs can be calculated by the use ofEauation 2 in
equations to yield: which Hct, = 0 or by the approximation described by
Gross for ANH”:
Hct, = (Hct, - Hct,) 11 e-‘LIEHV. (3)
V, = EBV x (Hct,, - Hct,)/HctaVg

(Hct, + Hct,)_ .
where HctaVg
= 2

972