Reviews and Notes: Radiology: Effective Medical Imaging: A Signs and Symptoms Approach

Effective Medical Imaging: A Signs and Symptoms Approach

Martin F. Sturman. 433 pages. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1993. $45.00.

It has been shown that if a radiologist is present when the “work-up” of a hospitalized patient is planned, three things occur: Fewer imaging studies are obtained, the overall cost of hospitalization is lower, and the time to final diagnosis is decreased. Yet the profligacy with which unnecessary and inappropriate studies are obtained shows no sign of diminishing.

Several books are available as a guide to imaging “algorithms” or protocols, but for the most part they are either obsolete, designed for subspecialists, or …