Book Review: Robbins & Cotran: Pathologic Basis of Disease – Professional Edition, 9th edition
Editors: Vinay Kumar, MD; Abul K. Abbas, MBBS: and Jon C. Aster, MD. Illustrations by James A. Perkins, MS, MFA
Publisher: Elsevier Saunders – 1,391 pages
Book Review by: Nano Khilnani
Pathology – the study of disease – is key to understanding the causes of many abnormal conditions, ailments, and disorders found in the human body. And a working knowledge of it is critical in diagnosis for all physicians, the editors – Drs. Kumar, Abbas, and Aster – point out in their Preface to this book. Towards that end, they write:
“It is obvious that an understanding of disease mechanisms is based more than ever on a strong foundation of basic science. We have always woven the relevant basic cell and molecular biology into the sections on pathophysiology in various chapters.”
They point out that for this edition, they have “gone one step further.” They have added a chapter entitled The Cell as a Unit of Health and Disease at the very beginning of the book. The study of the cell – including its functions, and the changes to it at anytime – is critical to understanding any particular disease in a patient. All diseases originate in the cell.
So why is the study and practice of pathology important? In a sentence, they answer this question by quoting Dr. Robbins in his Preface to the first edition of this book in 1957:
“It is not a discipline isolated from the living patient, but rather a basic approach to a better understanding of disease and therefore a foundation of sound clinical medicine.”
In this large book of nearly 1,400 pages, the 31 authors of articles (which include its three editors) and the illustrator James Perkins first take an overall look at the cell as a basic component of the human body, and disease, in the 10 chapters of the first section, General Pathology. Then they explore, explain, and show various diseases (and their causes) in various parts of the human body in 19 other chapters in the second section entitled Systemic Pathology: Diseases of Organ Systems.
Below is an overview of what you will find covered in this book:
- General Pathology
- The Cell as a Unit of Health and Disease
- Cellular Responses to Stress and Toxic Insults: Adaptation, Injury, and Death
- Inflammation and Repair
- Hemodynamic Disorders, Thromboembolic Disease, and Shock
- Genetic Disorders
- Disease of the Immune System
- Neoplasia
- Infectious Diseases
- Environmental and Nutritional Diseases
- Disease of Infancy and Childhood
- Systemic Pathology: Diseases of Organ Systems
- Blood Vessels
- The Heart
- Diseases of White Blood Cells, Lymph Nodes, Spleen, and Thymus
- Red Blood Cell and Bleeding Disorders
- The Lung
- Head and Neck
- The Gastrointestinal Tract
- Liver and Gallbladder
- The Pancreas
- The Kidney
- The Lower Urinary Tract and Male Genital System
- The Female Genital Tract
- The Breast
- The Endocrine System
- The Skin
- Bones, Joints, and Soft Tissue Tumors
- Peripheral Nerves and Skeletal Muscles
- The Central Nervous System
- The Eye
The materials presented in each chapter are superbly organized. Each chapter begins by presenting, at the top just below its title, the main topics and subtopics covered in it. Discussions of the topics and subtopics follow, with numerous full-color illustrations and detailed captions. At the end of each chapter, more information is available to you in the Suggested Readings section.
You can access the entire contents of this book (and much more) online through any Internet-ready device. You can also search all Expert Consult titles you own, and link to PubMed abstracts.
If you are already registered,
Login at www.expertconsult.com
- Scratch off grey coating on inside front cover of your book to get your Activation Code
- Enter that into the Add a Title box
- Click Activate Now
- Click the title under My Titles
If you are a first-time user,
- Register
- Click Register Now at www.expertconsult.com
- Fill in your information and click Continue
- Activate your book
- Scratch off grey coating on inside front cover of your book to get your Activation Code
- Enter it into the Enter Activation Code box
- Click Activate Now
- Click the title under My Titles
For technical assistance, email: [email protected]. Or call 1-800-401-9962 in the United States or 1-314-995-3200 outside the U.S.
The online contents of this text are accessible with your PC, Mac, most mobile devices, and eReaders. ExpertConsult allows you to browse, search, and interact with this – online and offline.
These are the innovative features available to you online:
- Seamless, real-time integration between devices
- Straightforward navigation and search
- Notes and highlights sharing with other users through social media
- Enhanced images with annotations, labels, and hot spots for zooming on specific details*
- Live streaming video and animations*
- Self-assessment tools such as questions embedded within the text and multiple-format quizzes. *Some features vary by title
Among the main benefits of using this book are:
- Stay up to date with the latest information in molecular and genetic testing and mechanisms of disease.
- Consult new Targeted Theory boxes online that discuss drug therapy for specific diseases.
- Gain a new perspective in key areas thanks to the contributions from new authors at the top of their fields.
- Access the fully searchable contents of the book, plus interactive case studies, videos, self-assessment questions – all online at www.ExpertConsult.com
You can get more valuable information from another allied website – www.ClinicalKey.com. This search engine of Elsevier Saunders is specially designed for doctors by providing them:
- Comprehensive Content – the most current, evidence-based answers available for every medical and surgical specialty
- Trusted Answers – content supplied by Elsevier, the world’s leading provider of health and science information
- Unrivaled Speed to Answer – faster, more relevant clinical answers, so you can spend less time searching and more time caring for your patients
This is one of the most comprehensive textbooks on one of the most basic and core disciplines in medicine: pathology. With nine editions so far, this book provides a lot of current pathologic developments. It also presents updated information in molecular biology, disease classifications, new drugs and drug therapies, just to name a few important areas for physicians.
This book is also a bestseller among medical and allied professionals, as evidenced from its very high rank on Amazon. I would say that every physician should have this book in his or her medical library, particularly because of the online resources available to purchasers of this book.
Editors:
Vinay Kumar, MBBS, MD, FRCPath is the Donald N. Pritzker Professor, and Chairman of the Department of Pathology in the Biologic Sciences Division of the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois.
Abul K. Abbas, MBBS is Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pathology at the University of California San Francisco in San Francisco, California.
Jon C. Aster, MD, PhD is Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Young Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
Medical Illustrator:
James A. Perkins, MA, MFA
Contributors:
Charles E. Alpers, MD
Douglas C. Anthony, MD, PhD
Anthony Chang, MD
Umberto De Girolami, MD
Lora Hedrick Ellenson, MD
Jonathan I. Epstein, MD
Robert Folberg, MD
Matthew P. Frosch, MD, PhD
Andrew Horvai, MD, PhD
Ralph H. Hruban, MD
Aliya N Hussain, MBBS
Christine A. Iacobuzio-Donahue, MD, PhD
Raminder Kumar, MBBS, MD
Alexander J.F. Lazar, MD, PhD
Susan C. Lester, MD, PhD
Mark W. Lingen, DDS, PhD, PRCPath
Tamara L. Lotan, MD
Anirban Maitra, MBBS
Alexander J. McAdam, MD, PhD
Danny A. Milner, MD, MSc, FCAP
Richard N. Mitchell, MD, PhD
George F. Murphy, MD
Edyta C. Pirog, MD
Peter Pytel, MD
Frederick J. Schoen, MD, PhD
Arlene H. Sharpe, MD, PhD
Neill Theise, MD
Jerrold R. Turner, MD, PhD
