50 Gastrointestinal Cases and Associated Imaging

Book excerpt: Medical students and junior doctors are an integral part of the healthcare system. On an academic gastroenterology service, they often initially evaluate the patients that are then staffed by the consulting physician. Like all clinical specialties, the acquisition of medical knowledge is required to gain expertise. There are several resources such as textbooks and evidence-based articles that are available for this purpose. Inspired from patient care, this book offers a fresh approach to clinical teaching. 50 Gastrointestinal Cases and Associated Imaging is a different kind of book. It encompasses a gamut of cases for which gastroenterologists are commonly consulted for in the hospital and outpatient setting. Each case is presented from initial history and workup including imaging (various modalities including endoscopy), followed by a brief discussion on management. Questions are presented to the reader in each case followed by an answer. Since each case is unique, the pertinent teaching points are tested in a question format within the case narrative. Similar to real-life scenarios, this helps the reader to retain the most important information. Why buy this book? Unlike listing facts as most review books do, teaching points are integrated into realistic clinical cases. Medical students to residents/registrars in internal medicine, emergency medicine, GI medicine, radiology and surgery would benefit from this book alike. Secondary audiences will include nurses and general practitioners who want to understand the presentation of common GI cases and associated imaging. Moreover, it could also be potentially used as a training tool – a valuable educational resource for senior colleagues who enjoy teaching. Finally, this book would make an excellent prerequisite prior to starting any gastroenterology rotation.