1
720 . Book Reviews tumor, the two central chapters are concerned with "intraductal lesions" and "lobular lesions". The- chapter on "intraductal lesions" unfortunately lacks figures of benign forms of these intraductal lesions, which often present diagnostic problems. There are, however, many illustrations of the various forms of malignant intraductal tumor groWth, and the question of mic- roinvasion with its special prognostic significance is extensively discussed. As far as the lobular lesions are concerned, the transi- tIOn from normal lobule to lobular hyperplasia with and without atypias up to the lobular carcinoma in situ is well described. The subdivision of carcinoma types into "low-grade" and "high- grade invasive carcinomas" seems to be too rough. This becomes obvious in the case of medullary carcinomas which are lumped with the "low-grade" type. The inflammatory, reactive changes of breast epithelium have been neglected and "cystic disease" is only. to in without any exact differential diag- nostic cntena for a dlstmctlOn from carcinoma. But this short- coming is outweighed by a valuable table depicting the whole spectrum of epithelial lesions of the breast under the aspect of their clinical implications. With this table and with its excellent overview of the different risk factors, the book offers more than a mere "Interpretation of Biopsies". The chapter on "Multicentric- ity of Breast Cancer" is of general significance. As in other vol- umes of the series, only a limited space is devoted to needle biopsy. The short hint that receptor determination is a domain of the "chemical assays" can be explained by the fact that the book was published in 1984. Today, the immunohistologic detection of estrogen receptors is a routine method in histological breast diagnosis. Notwithstanding these restrictions, however, the book has its value as a "Guide for Breast Biopsy Diagnosis". E. Grundmann, Munster McGovern, V. J. Melanoma. Histological Diagnosis and Prog- nosis. (Biopsy Interpretation Series.) VIII, 197 pages, illustrated. Raven Press Ltd., 1983. Hard cover US $ 70.50. As the title indicates, this book is different from other volumes in the series. This impression is confirmed by a close reading and by a look at the figures (some of them in color), which present not only histological but also macroscopic features. In the preface the author justly points out that many of the lesions which toda; are known as "benign melanotic lesions of the skin", some thirty years ago would have been interpreted as malignant ones. An example in point are the "spindle cell melanotic lesions", which, espeCially in the amelanotic variety, according to the experience of the reviewer are often diagnosed and treated as malignant melanomas. The criteria for diagnosis are not only described but also illustrated by excellent figures. The same applies to the blue nevi including the local metastasis form of the benign cellular blue nevus, a rare disease that often involves diagnostic and therapeutic problems. Of equal importance is the chapter on the "Spontaneous Regression of Malignant Melanoma", to which the author has devoted some 10 pages. The chapter on "The Prognostic Significance of Histological Features" includes the cross-sectional profile as well as the depth of invasion and the histogenetic pattern of sickness. It is stressed that the prognostic significance of lymphocytic infiltration is limited and dependant on the depth of invasion, but not on the infiltrate itself. From a practical point of view, the sentence "the significance of the infil- trate remains unclear" is correct. More recent immunohis- tochemical analyses of the infiltrate, however, have not been con- Chapters on "Clinical Features and Prognosis", and Pnmary Treatment of Malignant Melanoma" round off this volume to an outstanding presentation of practically relevant aspects of the topic. Although the book was published in 1983, it can still be recom- mended without any restrictions to pathologists, especially der- matophologists, and dermatologist. Considering the excellent make-up the price is fully justified. E. Grundmann, Munster Hagenbeek, A., Lowenberg, B. (Eds.): Minimal Residual Disease in Acute Leukemia 1986. (Developments in Oncology). XIV, 393 pages. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht-Boston-Lancas- ter, 1986. Hard cover Dfl. 175,-/$ 76.50/£ 48.50 Minimal Residual Disease in Acute Leukemia 1986 is the sec- ond publication on this subject in the series "Developments in Oncology". This publication represents a collection of the main papers which were presented at a congress organized by the editors H. Hagenbeek and B. Lowenberg in Rotterdam in November 1985. The poster presentations are not included in this book. Various aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of mini- mal residual disease in acute leukemia are discussed in 35 con- tributions, divided into four sections. . Section I consists of 15 papers on the application of cytogene- tiC, molecular genetic and immunological approaches in the detection of minimal residual disease in leukemia. Section II con- tains 6 papers reporting on clinical trials carried out by Ameri- can, French, British, and German clinicians in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myelogenous leukemia. The 15 contributions in sections III and IV provide a detailed review of the state of the art in autologous and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in acute leukemia. Due to the short inter- val between the presentation of these papers and their publication all contributions represent the latest developments in the area. The book is of special interest for cell biologists and clinicians working in leukemia research and therapy, although its price seems somewhat high. J. Ritter, Munster Holzner, J. H. (Hrsg.): Arbeitsbuch Pathologie. Band 2. Spezielle Pathologie I. 4. neubearbeitete und erweiterte Auflage. XVII, 360 S. Urban und Schwarzenberg, Miinchen-Wien-Baltimore 1985. Kt. DM 36,-. In this fourth edition of the "Spezielle Pathologie" (in Ger- man), the text has been revised and in some parts enlarged, and the number of line drawings has increased. The structural frame of the previous editions has been retained: for every disease or syndrome, short synthetic definitions are presented, reference lists being restricted to the most important and modern papers or books. As most of the current German textbooks of pathology this "Spezielle Pathologie" is in accordance with the "learning c;talo- gues" for medical students, aiming primarily at this readership. In my.opinion, however, this book is more appropriate for young chlllcians or pathologists, i.e. to people with a general basic knowledge of medicine and pathology. The text is in fact too short and not adequately illustrated; for students this might pre- sent considerable difficulties, whereas every young medical resi- dent will find in this book a very useful guide, because it offers exact informations about morphology and aetlOpathogenesls of almost every kind of disease. Layout and printing are very good, the price is low. F. Gullotta, Munster
