Comprehensive Management of Skull Base Tumors, 2nd edn

Review by L Flood
Middlesborough, UK

Within the last year, this publisher has already released five textbooks on skull base surgery, all of which have been reviewed in this journal. They variously range from paediatric and endonasal surgery, to an atlas and controversies in this field. Now comes a sixth textbook, with probably the greatest appeal to our readership of otorhinolaryngology and head and neck surgeons.

Comprehensive it surely is, at 668 pages, 42 chapters and a weight of nearly 2.5 kgs. There is many an author from our specialty, although obviously neurosurgeons predominate. The UK contributors include Profs Valerie Lund and David Howard (focusing on what I still call olfactory neuroblastoma, as that is easier to spell than the alternative, which is unpronounceable), and Prof Mike Gleeson (on schwannomas of the skull base).

This is a second edition, appearing after a 10-year interval, and the Preface stresses the advances in endonasal surgery, in radiotherapy and in the molecular characterisation of tumours. Like Caesar’s Gaul, this is also divided into ‘partes tres’. It opens with ‘General Principles’, which includes the basic sciences of anatomy, pathology, imaging, anaesthesia, reconstruction and countless further chapters. Then comes ‘Site-Specific Considerations’, a series of chapters devoted to where the lesion arises, whether the jugular foramen, the orbit or the nasopharynx, to name but a few. Finally, we get ‘Tumor- [they spell it their way] Specific Considerations’ which could be anything from meningioma, to melanoma or pituitary adenomas; in other words, the disease process, wherever it arises. This division actually works really well, even if there is inevitably some repetition. With so many authors offering their individual insight and experience, it does make for the ‘comprehensive’ coverage claimed.

There are high-quality illustrations – of diagnostic imaging, pathology slides, anatomical diagrams and per-operative photography – on every page. The cover claims 1688 illustrations and I would not dispute that, but there is a massive text too, which is well updated judging by the references. It is hard to imagine how the editors got such a diverse group of contributors, truly an international bunch, to offer such a consistent format of text.

If textbooks have any future in this post-coronavirus, still socially isolated, digital world (plus, of course, there is that e-book version for the kids, who can read off a laptop screen), this deserves to do well. This is a book that will really appeal to trainees and even the most established senior skull base surgeon. Brilliant. Outstanding. I may find another superlative, but then this is only what I expect from this publisher. They rarely get it wrong…rarely.

Amazon Link: Comprehensive Management of Skull Base Tumors, 2nd edn
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