Stedman's Radiology Words.(Book review)

STEDMAN'S RADIOLOGY WORDS. 5th ed. 2006. 1073 pgs. Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. www.stedmans.com. Hardcopy $39.95. CD-ROM $42.95.

What's in a word? For some professions, it's everything--especially if you have to communicate precise and accurate information. Medical writers and editors, coders, researchers, transcriptionists and health information professionals have very different jobs, but they all have to get the words they use right. And getting words right is especially difficult in a rapidly changing discipline such as radiology.

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Imaging equipment, techniques and procedures evolve constantly, so keeping up with changes in radiology terminology and abbreviations can be a daunting task. Luckily, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, the publisher of Stedman's Medical Dictionary, also put out a series of lexicons for various medical disciplines. For professionals who work in radiology, the fifth edition of Stedman's Radiology Words might become one of their new best friends.

This hefty volume of more than 110 000 entries is arranged alphabetically and is cross-indexed in a main entry-subentry format. For example, gadolinium dietbylenetriamine pentaacetic acid can be found under the main entries for gadolinium, gadolinium-DTPA, gadopentetate and Gd-DTPA. Entries give the correct spelling of words, phrases and abbreviations. Anyone who has wrestled with the alphabet soup of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques will be especially appreciative of the correct usage of terms such as FISP (fast imaging with steady-state precession) and FAME (fast acquisition with multiphase EFGRE [enhanced fast gradient echo]). Given the increasing use of imaging to guide radiation treatment delivery, radiation therapists also will find the dictionary useful.

The text is packaged nicely with a durable reinforced paper cover and thumb tabs for easy navigation. Seven appendices supplement the lexicon and serve as additional reference tools. A 24-page series of anatomical illustrations covers basic radiographic projections and positioning; skeletal anatomy; mammography, computed tomography (CT) and MR basics; simple cranial anatomy; and basic digestive system anatomy. Other appendices list contrast media and imaging agents and common breast imaging and radiation oncology terms.

For those who prefer an electronic format, Stedman's Radiology Words also is available as a CD-ROM. The electronic version is fully searchable, with copy and paste functions to move information from one document to another.

Katherine Ott, ELS

Senior Editor

American Society of

Radiologic Technologists

Albuquerque, New Mexico