Reviewer: Ingrid S Reiser, PhD (University of Chicago, Biological Sciences Division)
Description: This book is part of a series called "The Essentials." It is true to the series name. This book covers the essential physics principles of all radiologic imaging modalities. It also stands out from other texts for the exceptionally rich visuals.
Purpose: This book covers the essentials of radiologic imaging modalities in a comprehensive, concise summary of the fundamental principles and basic clinical applications with an abundance of illustrations and clinical image examples. Each chapter opens with clearly stated learning objectives, which are covered by short didactic elements. These allow for an efficient review of the fundamentals of imaging physics. At the end of each chapter, there are three to five self-assessment questions. These questions will help the readers assess their mastery of the learned concepts. References are also provided for further in-depth reading on all topics. This book offers both detailed didactic sections along with well thought-out self-assessment questions at a level and length that are optimal either for review or as a reference. Each chapter presents imaging physics concepts at a level of detail beyond what is typically found in a collection of practice questions. At the same time, the amount of material covered in each chapter is very manageable compared to a fully introductory textbook. Therefore, this book is useful for residents who may want a quick review of concepts during rotations. In addition, the clear explanations of concepts and the excellent choice of illustrations make this book a valuable reference to practicing physicians and educators.
Audience: This book presents a summary and review of the basic physics principles of radiographic imaging. It is not a substitute for a fully in-depth textbook on medical imaging physics and will be most valuable to residents or practitioners who have completed didactic training in imaging physics. The majority of chapters are authored by physicians, who chose an image-centric presentation of materials that enables a peer-to-peer learning of physics concepts. While each chapter is written by an independent author, the book is nicely tied together since each chapter uses the same identical format.
Features: The book covers all diagnostic imaging modalities, including radiography, fluoroscopy, mammography, CT, MRI, ultrasound, and nuclear medicine, and concludes with a chapter on radiation safety. Each chapter provides the essential fundamentals of a given imaging technique and basic clinical applications. The content is primarily communicated through illustrations and appropriately uses clinical image examples to illustrate concepts, which are clearly and concisely explained in the text. The book uses the best visuals of well-known textbooks on the physics of medical imaging to create an excellent summary that will serve well as a refresher or as a reference. In an attempt to be comprehensive, some of the presented technologies are outdated, such as analog screen-film imaging or CRT monitors. On the other hand, emerging technologies such as breast tomosynthesis are touched upon very briefly without sufficient detail to elicit an understanding of image artifacts. Most chapters include a brief list of suggested references for further reading. These include textbooks, but they do not have references to review articles in the peer-reviewed literature. It would have been helpful, particularly for emerging technologies that are not yet well covered in textbooks.
Assessment: A picture is worth a thousand words: Notable about this book is the extensive use of previously published figures from well-known texts on the physics of radiologic imaging such as The Essential Physics of Medical Imaging, 3rd edition, Bushberg et al. (Wolters Kluwer, 2012) and many others. While this might seem surprising at first glance, the graphics are soon discovered to be a thoughtful selection of the best and essential illustrations on the various imaging physics topics. While this book is a brief summary compared to the aforementioned comprehensive textbook, it covers all the topics essential to an in-depth understanding of radiologic imaging. All concepts are exceptionally well-explained and are relevant to clinical practice. Some useful features of this book are the concise tables and the sections that list the effect of acquisition parameters on image quality. These summaries provide a quick reference to the impact of the primary imaging parameters, which are presented for most imaging modalities described in the book. Overall, this is an excellent textbook on imaging physics fundamentals that I would recommend for residents, physicians, and educators to include in their reference library.
