The Prostaglandins.

This little volume is a compendium written by several authors on the status of prostaglandins up to about two years ago. This rapidly expanding field, which has become of increasing importance in medical practice, needs simple and concisely written reviews in order to bring the internist or general physician up to date on newer developments. Unfortunately, in order to be complete and to include several hundred references in each chapter, the text is far from readable but rather appears like an annotated bibliography with comments. Also, since new discoveries are made rapidly, even a volume published in 1973 is already partially outdated, omitting such major advances as the hypercalcemic effects of prostaglandins. After a good review of the chemistry and structure and biologic activity of these compounds in chapter 1, the pharmacology is reviewed in chapter 2 with a large number of references. The next chapter on the distribution and