MRCP II MADE EASY

MRCP II MADE EASY is written by a Harvard trained Physician who is also a Member of the Royal College of Physicians of London ( MRCP ). It saddens me that many people do not know that the normal chest XR is not an indicator of Pneumonia. This was proven when mass screening was published to be totally inconclusive and insensitive for the detection of Tuberculosis, yet this is stil rampant. The author adresses this problem as Pneumocystis Carinii is treated with Pentamidine and prophylactic Co Trimoxaxole  ( Septran ) even in this day and age. There are others who do not understand the role of High Resolution CT scan for this particular purpose and the days of the lateral X Rays seem to be diminishing.  I remember Prof Samet of Mount Sinai, still using fluoroscopy to diagnose a multitude of problems. Are we regressing to the days when focal crackles in a febrile septic patient with green phlegm does not signify Pneumonia or the older term Pneumonitis. I have seen diagnoses of pleuropericardial effusion in such patients ignored just as cardiomegaly. The author understands that many African and rural Indian villages are equipped only with the chest X Ray and once the Art of clinical diagnosis loses it's primacy there will be severe chaos. As professionals the advocacy of please correlate clinically means exactly that. Many forget that a normal chest XR may occur in death, Asthma, Bronchial airway hyperreactivity and the early stages of pulmonary hypertension before the pericytes proliferate and the Hampton sign of Pulmonary embolism is still relevant. This book is about compassion and interlaces medical facts with basic radiological information written like a novel rather than a Medical pompous tome. It is done in the style of Michael Crichton, Robin Cook and Asimov. Both my husband and 2 sons love it. It's just the dogmatism of radiological analysis withouth a history which is disturbing. Several weeks ago a suite was brought against a Physician for this as he dismissed Multidrug Ressistant Tuberculosis in the face of what was reported as a normal chest X Ray and the Polymerase Chain Reaction ( PCR ) for the nucleotide sequence of Tuberculosis returned after having exposed many. Compassion and logic should prevail and as the author says a Gestalt is the entire picture at once producing the Eureka effect such as demonstrated in House MD. Let us remind ourselves that we must return to basics.