Library
APS Bulletin • Volume 18, Number 3, 2008
Resource Reviews
John D. Loeser, MD, Department Editor
The Atlas of Common Pain Syndromes
Reviewed by Robert Goodkin, MD
Steven D. Waldman. Philadelphia, Saunders, 2008. Hard cover, 370 pages. ISBN 978-1-4160-4675-2. $119.
In the second edition of The Atlas of Common Pain Syndromes, the author states he has added 28 pain syndrome chapters, expanded the discussion of physical examination and the number of radiographic images, and added a CD-ROM (with user instructions) of the atlas’s illustrations and radiographic images. The CD-ROM gives the user the option to download the illustrations and images to PowerPoint. The general format of the first edition has been preserved, “following the ‘how-to-do-it’ format,” including full-color illustrations depicting the signs and symptoms of each syndrome presented and the pathognomonic physical, laboratory, and radiographic imaging findings. Each chapter starts with the ICD code for a particular pain syndrome; is followed by a description of the clinical syndrome, signs and symptoms, testing, differential diagnosis, treatment, complications and pitfalls; and, ends with a brief comment regarding clinical pearls. The atlas is divided into 16 sections, with a total of 106 pain syndrome chapters.
The atlas is illustrated extensively, and there are many radiographic imaging studies, with varying degrees of usefulness for understanding the pain syndrome. The descriptions, for the most part, highlight the pertinent aspects of each syndrome, but it is helpful if the reader has some prior knowledge and familiarity with the syndromes. The initial figure in the opening chapter is a photograph of a Ramsay Hunt syndrome patient’s ear that the author points out in the text “must be distinguished from acute herpes zoster of the first division of the trigeminal nerve.” The Ramsay Hunt syndrome is not mentioned in the differential diagnosis section of the chapter. The author cites the Tolosa-Hunt syndrome in the differential diagnosis section of that chapter as an example of an inflammatory disease causing pain in the first division of the trigeminal nerve, but the syndrome is not defined or further discussed and is not referenced in the index of the Atlas. “In the Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy of the Face” chapter, there is no discussion of reflex sympathetic dystrophy, causalgia, or complex regional pain syndrome affecting other parts of the body.
All of the chapters are illustrated and many have radiographic imaging studies that depict salient findings. However, some of the imaging examples do not appear to be pertinent to the subject. For example, in the ”Cluster Headache” chapter the author references sinusitis in the differential diagnosis section and the figure to which the reader is referred is a MRI of a subdural empyema. The cluster headache syndrome would be an unlikely constellation of symptoms masquerading as a subdural empyema.
Although this reviewer found the atlas incomplete in some areas, the atlas brings attention to a number of pain syndromes encountered daily by primary care physicians who might find this book of value. For the pain specialist, the atlas is an excellent review of common pain syndromes and could be a useful tool for educating patients.
Dr. Robert Goodkin is Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Neurological Surgery and Radiation Oncology at the University of Washington in Seattle.
