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Pulmonary Pathology
Article in American Journal of Clinical Pathology · March 1995
DOI: 10.1093/ajcp/103.3.373
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BOOK REVIEWS 373
Nevertheless, the discussion reflects, for the most part, a sin-
plastic, occupational, transplantation-related, or neoplastic
gle author's approach to laboratory practice, a perspective that pulmonary diseases). Pathologists with an all-consuming inter-
some practitioners may consider too narrow. Because it con- est in the lung will doubtlessly want to keep their copies of
siders most practical applications of transmission electron mi- Katzenstein and Askin's; Churg's; Sale's; and Marchevsky's
croscopy, and because it is of value both as a primer and as a monographs of these respective subjects (as well as other sim-
reference, I highly recommend this text to anyone who relies ilar books) available for ready reference. With that said, how-
on this technique for either research or diagnosis. ever, general anatomic pathologists as well as pulmonary pa-
thologists will be able to find a cogent, practical, and expert
PAUL E. SWANSON, MD discussion on most any contextual topic just by consulting Dail
Lauren V. Ackerman Laboratory ofSurgical Pathology and Hammar alone.
Washington University School ofMedicine Comparisons with other general texts on pulmonary pathol-
St. Louis, Missouri ogy are inevitable in book reviews such as this one. Against that
background, one must certainly acknowledge that the mono-
Dail DH, Hammar SP, eds. Pulmonary Pathology. 2nd ed. graphs on pulmonary pathology by Spencer (Pergamon Press,
New York: Springer-Verlag, 1994, 1,640 pp, $298.00. 1985) and Thurlbeck (Thieme Medical Publishers, 1988) are
In the current atmosphere of competitiveness among medi- highly scholarly treatises with many strengths. Nevertheless, in
cal book publishers, and in light of the high expectations that our opinion, Dail and Hammar's second edition emerges as the
most purchasers of pathology textbooks have, a monograph superior work on the basis of textual currency and scope. For
example, the majority of chapter reference lists in the latter
Downloaded from http://ajcp.oxfordjournals.org/ by guest on March 20, 2016
that enters a second edition only 6 years after its introduction
is a rarity and, usually, a treasure trove of information. This book have several hundred entries, and they include many ci-
rule certainly applies to the latest version of Pulmonary Pathol- tations from the 1992 and 1993 literature in most instances.
ogy, edited by Drs. David Dail and Samuel Hammar. These Does the second edition of Pulmonary Pathology have any
experienced and well-known investigators have built upon the weaknesses? By and large, the answer is no, but reviewers are
excellence they achieved in the first edition of this work by up- obliged to find at least some fault with any given text. It is a
dating and substantially revising the book. There are five new telling commentary that our efforts to uncover shortcomings in
chapters in the current edition—on lung defense mechanisms, Dail and Hammar's monograph bore fruit only in regard to
common pathways and patterns of injury, pulmonary pathol- relative minutiae. As one example, microscopic pulmonary
ogy in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, pulmonary "chemodectomas" are still described as indeterminate with re-
transplantation pathology, and metastatic tumors originating gard to lineage, although most observers currently accept the
in or emanating from the lungs. Moreover, several other chap- premise that they have meningothelial-like features. Other mi-
ters in the original text, which covered aspiration and related nor disappointments were attached to a noncommittal discus-
disorders; pulmonary vasculitis syndromes; connective tissues sion of so-called "carcinoid tumorlets," vis-a-vis whether they
diseases affecting the lungs; iatrogenic/toxic pulmonary injury; truly represent neoplasms or are merely hyperplasias of resi-
vascular disorders; and clinicopathologic correlations, have dent pulmonary neuroendocrine cells, as well as a failure to
been rewritten or incorporated into discussions of related prob- specify the numerical density of SI 00 protein-positive Langer-
lems. Although the second edition is over 400 pages longer than hans' cells required to render a diagnosis of eosinophilic granu-
the first, it is still manageably contained in one volume with a loma.
suitability strong binding. Impressively, although the current In short, Pulmonary Pathology deserves the stature it has ac-
version of Pulmonary Pathology represents the work of 33 au- quired of late as the preeminent, clinicopathologic textbook on
thors, it reads with a consistency and fluidity that could only diseases of the lung. Residents in anatomic pathology, fellows
reflect the meticulous editing of Drs. Dail and Hammar. As in in pulmonary pathology, pulmonary medicine, and thoracic
thefirstedition, illustrations are numerous and of superb qual- surgery, and practicing pathologists at all levels should have a
ity, regardless of whether they represent macroscopic, histo- copy of this text within arm's reach.
logic, or ultrastructural photographs.
In the reviewers' opinion, the real "acid test" of any book on JON H. RITTER, MD
surgical pathology is its usefulness in solving actual day-to-day MARK R. WICK, MD
interpretative problems. In that important regard, this mono- Lauren V. Ackerman Laboratory ofSurgical Pathology
graph succeeds admirably and in a way that is typically Washington University Medical Center
achieved only by more subspecialized texts (eg, on non-neo- St. Louis, Missouri
A.J.C.P. • March 1995
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