Encyclopedia of Medical Radiology, vol 17. Radiation Therapy of Benign Diseases.

This volume is the latest in a comprehensive series of German reference works on diagnostic and therapeutic radiology which have been published since 1963. The editors state that "in non-malignant diseases radiotherapy has fallen into neglect" and that this book "... should help to ensure the wider use of this form of treatment." The relatively impartial reader can glean reasons for the former statement from the text, but not for the latter. The 15 contributors present the subject matter without relation to its contemporary importance and only occasionally concede the obsoleteness of the information.

The undoubtedly definitive presentation of the use of x-ray therapy for angina pectoris(!) occupies 26 pages. Various methods are recommended, from irradiation of the stellate ganglia to irradiation of what is hoped to be the adrenal medullas. One is more chagrined by the absence of controlled evaluations of therapy than enlightened by the impartially recorded disputes. One