Thyroid Disease: A Case-Based and Practical Guide for Primary Care / Edition 1

by Emanuel O. Brams

Overview

Thyroid Disease: A Case-Based and Practical Guide for Primary Care, by Dr. Emanuel Brams, is a supremely readable cased-based approach to understanding the myriad of disorders that encompass thyroid disease. Using cases derived from his busy practice, Dr. Brams gives us the history and physical examination details of each case, along with test results. Then, through a series of questions similar to that which any good clinician asks while caring for a patient, Dr. Brams explains an optimal approach to diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of thyroid disease, with an emphasis on the practical and common issues that primary care physicians see in their offices. This is an important book for primary care physicians because thyroid disease is common in the population we take care of and accounts for 3–5% of primary care visits. It is often cited as an area that primary care phy- cians find confusing. Dr. Brams clarifies thyroid disease and, through his generous sharing of cases, allows us to join him in making clear diagnoses as well as share in the ambiguity and decisions about approach when the diagnoses and course of treatment are not clear. In this way, the book is honest, and deals directly with the issues of thyroid disease as they are seen by us as physicians, not as we sometimes may wish they were seen if patients presented with the clarity of walking textbooks. Dr.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617376269
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	11/19/2010
Series:	Current Clinical Practice
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 2005
Pages:	154
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

Physiology, Testing, and Common Thyroid Disorders.- Thyroid Testing and Imaging.- Graves’ Disease.- Other Causes of Hyperthyroidism.- Thyroid Ophthalmopathy.- Hypothyroidism.- Subclinical Thyroid Disease.- Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.- Thyroid Disease in Pregnancy and Postpartum.- Thyroid Disease in Children and Adolescents.- Thyroid Nodules and Cancer.- Management of Thyroid Cancer Patients.- Challenging Thyroid Disorders and Current Controversies.- Challenging Cases of Hyperthyroidism.- Treatment of Graves’ Disease.- Iatrogenic Hyperthyroidism.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

"...an excellent book on an important topic written for primary care physicians in a style that makes for enjoyable reading that is easily translated into useful lessons for patient care." -Neil S. Skolnik, MD, Temple University School of Medicine

"Thyroid Disease … is a slim text that uses a case-based approach to illustrate the diagnosis and treatment of common thyroid disorders. ... This case-based approach results in a very readable and understandable textbook that reads like a conversation with a colleague or consultant. … For the novice, the case-based approach provides a highly accessible introduction to thyroid disease. Similarly, this text is a useful reference for the general practitioner … . Its strengths lie in its easy readability and size." (Christine G. Gourin, Head & Neck, Vol. 29, February, 2007)

"...an interesting book, which takes the primary care physician on a memorable tour through a wide spectrum of thyroid disorders. The discussion is well-reasoned and should furnish practical help to a busy primary care practitioner." -TRENDS in Endocrinology and Metabolism

From the Publisher

3 Stars from Doody

Reviewer: Adam S. Cifu, MD (University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine)
Description: This is a case-based book intended to teach the basics of clinical thyroid disease to primary care providers. After an introduction and background, the book is divided into chapters of presenting symptoms and disease types. It ends with discussions of some less common and more complicated disease presentations.
Purpose: The book is meant to instruct primary care providers how to recognize, diagnose, and treat the most common thyroid disorders. These are certainly worthy objectives and the author does a very good gob achieving them.
Audience: Intended for use by practicing primary care doctors, the book is written in a way that is appropriate for this audience. It easily can be read in its entirety or can be used as a reference for individual patients. The author is an endocrinologist with extensive clinical experience.
Features: The book covers the basics of thyroid disease in a very readable, case-based fashion. Each topic (e.g. Graves' disease, subclinical hypothyroidism) is covered with 3-4 cases that cover the spectrum of presentation, diagnosis, and treatment. The chapters contain useful summary sections as well as more directly didactic sections that point out the most salient aspects of each case. The most significant shortcoming of the book is the lack of references. There is very little in the way of suggestions for further reading. I also found many of the cases to be too straightforward. Although this is not really a problem with the book, presentations that are not quite as "textbook" might help clinicians recognize the more difficult cases.
Assessment: This is a useful addition to the current resources. It is, by intention, very focused, but would be a useful book for practicing primary care doctors interested in improving their skills at managing thyroid disease.

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