Reviews and Notes: Differential Diagnosis

Differential Diagnosis

Jeremiah A. Barondess and Charles C. J. Carpenter; eds. 993 pages. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger; 1994. $75.00.

This multiauthor text begins with an introductory chapter on the basic importance of accurate and detailed clinical data collection during the medical interview and physical examination. Concern is raised over the excessive use of laboratory and imaging procedures as a substitute for bedside examination and reasoning, and several methods for organizing complex patient data into a few diagnostic possibilities are outlined. Dr. Harold Sox describes several mathematical aids for diagnostic decision making and explains them so that they can be understood and used even by those who shy away from mathematical methods in medicine. Sox includes …