Field of medicine: Laboratory medicine.

Format: Softcover book.

Audience: Medical students, physicians, and other health care providers who interpret laboratory tests for diagnosis.

Purpose: To provide basic information about common laboratory tests, offer guidance in the selection of appropriate tests for disease diagnosis, and provide differential diagnoses for abnormal laboratory results.

Content: The book has four sections. The first contains a list of reference (normal) values for common laboratory tests and a list of "action" values for critical tests. The second section includes diagnostic information on a core set of blood chemistry and urine tests. The third and largest section is organized by organ system and comprises a list of tests and diseases with associated laboratory results. The last section contains a brief discussion of the effects of drugs on test values and a chapter on therapeutic drug monitoring and toxicology.

Highlights: This quick, concise reference for common laboratory tests can fit in a coat pocket. It has current information about newer tests (such as troponins in myocardial infarction and hepatitis A-G testing), practical diagnostic algorithms (such as an algorithm for diagnosis of thyroid disorders), and many useful tables. The appendix lists conversion factors for translating conventional units into SI units. A companion CD-ROM version is available for Windows or Macintosh operating systems.

Limitations: The book is not as comprehensive as general laboratory medicine textbooks and does not discuss the pathophysiology underlying laboratory findings in diseases. It lacks information on many microbiological and genetic tests and omits blood bank testing. Little discussion about the effect of preanalytical factors (such as hemolysis) on laboratory tests and general principles of laboratory medicine (such as the diagnostic utility of tests) is provided.

Related reading: The book is an abridged version of Wallach's Interpretation of Diagnostic Tests, 6th edition (Little, Brown, 1996), which is considered a classic guide for laboratory testing. Additional comprehensive general laboratory medicine textbooks include Henry's Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods (WB Saunders, 1996) and McClatchey's Clinical Laboratory Medicine (Williams & Wilkins, 1994). These books not only contain clinical interpretation of laboratory testing but also explain test methods and their limitations, laboratory test interferences, and general principles of laboratory medicine. In addition, many excellent subspecialty laboratory medicine books are available, such as Tietz Textbook of Clinical Chemistry (WB Saunders, 1994), edited by Burtis and Ashwood.

Reviewer: David A. Lacher, MD, American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.