SonoTexts: JAMA review on ultrasound texts – and a list of some of the best

I was flipping through the most recent issue of JAMA and noticed 2 book reviews in the end, both of which had to do with point-of-care ultrasound – yes! Its probably the only thing that would stop me in mid-bite of my midnight snack. One of the books highlighted is by Hadzic, a regional anesthesia book which recently added a section on US-guided nerve blocks – hot topic these days as has been well studied and taught by Mike Stone, Arun Nagdev, and others. Of course, the review done by Chris Moore about Chris Fox’s book, Atlas of Emergency Ultrasound was what got my attention: quite matter of fact about point-of-care ultrasound, which I appreciate. I loved that Chris Fox’s book is highlighted in JAMA. Period. Disclaimer: I am biased as he is the one who made me into an US believer during my residency at UC Irvine, and was the first SonoFiler I wrote about – great guy and good friend.

My favorite part of the review:

“High-quality, portable (even pocket-sized) ultrasound devices are increasingly available at lower and lower cost, and the adoption of point-of-care clinician-performed bedside ultrasound continues to increase throughout many specialties and around the world. However, ultrasound remains a user-dependent technology in which effective use involves understanding and manipulating equipment to obtain adequate images, correctly interpreting presence or absence of pathology, and integrating interpretations into clinical care…..The Atlas of Emergency Ultrasound is a timely text that provides a visual reference for the wide variety of normal and pathological conditions that may be visualized using point-of-care ultrasound in the acute care setting. Although this book is geared toward emergency medicine, the images and content may be of use to anyone who routinely works with ultrasound images.”

Ultrasound Textbooks that are great if you so choose to flip pages of a book, instead of reading online are listed below and does not include all books in ultrasound by any means. They are for varying levels of learners and the links will take to the amazon site for your to learn more about them (in no particular order):

Noble and Nelson. Manual Of Emergency and Critical Care Ultrasound