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Clinical Pharmacist Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Duke University School of Medicine Durham, North Carolina Associate Professor Department of Pharmacy Practice Campbell University School of Pharmacy Buies Creek, North Carolina
| Edited by Domenico Spina, Clive P Page, William J Metzger,
and Brian J O'Connor. Published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK,
2003. ISBN 0-521-77321-0. Clothbound, xii + 599 pp. (25.5 x 19.5 cm),
$150.
www.cambridge.org
|
Published Online, February 27, 2004. www.theannals.com, DOI 10.1345/aph.1D435
The chapters include conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as well as relatively less common diseases such as pulmonary vascular disease, parenchymal lung disease, lung infections, cancer, and cough. The pathophysiology of the diseases is either discussed in separate chapters, such as asthma and COPD, or is included in the chapters discussing the drug treatment.
The chapters are generally well written—very few typos—and extremely well referenced. There are a few chapters that seem out of proportion in terms of length—the chapter on leukotriene modifiers is too short and the phosphodiesterase inhibitors' chapter is too long compared with the other 21 chapters. Chapters discussing drugs under development, such as potassium-channel openers, are generally strongly oriented to basic pharmacology. I found the chapter on parenchymal lung diseases by Joseph Lynch III from the University of Michigan overall to be the best-written chapter.
There are very few similar textbooks on this topic that provide this degree of depth and a current view of drug therapy of respiratory diseases. The price is reasonable compared with other contemporary textbooks. The intended audience is pulmonary clinicians, scientists, and students. I think that the depth of information in about half of the chapters is beyond the typical practicing clinician, but would be excellent for an academically oriented respiratory specialist or clinical researcher. The chapters on drugs in development, such as tachykinin and kinin antagonists, provide great insight into agents that we will likely use in the future.
Overall, I think this is a very good text, most appropriate for sophisticated clinicians and researchers who seek to achieve great depth in their understanding of the basic and clinical pharmacology of drugs used in the treatment of respiratory diseases. I am pleased to have a copy of the text in my personal library.
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