We are happy and proud to offer a third edition of our Fundamentals of Diagnostic Radiology text. We cherish the fact that so many radiology residents around the country continue to use our text as we had originally intendedвДas a first read for beginning residents and as a concise but comprehensive review text for preparation for American Board of Radiology written and oral examinations. We are particularly pleased that most of our authors from our original text published in 1994 have returned to contribute to this edition. In 1992 as we conceived the notion of writing this text we deliberately chose authors who were very junior faculty or fresh out of their fellowship training to identify what is fundamental and important to the student of radiology. Now more than a decade later these same authors are leaders in the teaching of radiology, serving as department chairs, division chiefs, professors, and senior radiologists. All have kept pace with what is fundamental and important in learning the rapidly progressing specialty of diagnostic imaging. Dr. Erik Gaensler has returned to organize his expert group of neuroradiologists writing the Neuroradiology section. These include Kelly Koeller, the former chairman of Radiologic Pathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and currently associate professor of radiology at the Mayo Clinic; Alisa Gean, a leading expert in brain trauma imaging; and Howard Rowley, the Chief of Neuroradiology at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Susan John, the primary author of our pediatric radiology chapters, is now the Chair of the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging at the University of TexasвГHouston Medical School. Susan is the first woman to chair a major department at her institution. Dr. David K. Shelton, Professor of Radiology and Chief of the Nuclear Medicine division at the University of CaliforniaвГDavis was essential in reorganizing and authoring the Nuclear Radiology section. Without his commitment and fine work we would have been in deep trouble completing this revision. He made a major contribution as the section editor for Cardiac Radiology as well. Jeffrey Klein again contributed the entire chest radiology section, covering the topics so vital to diagnostic radiology. Tony Smith and Michael Miller have provided a stellar rewrite of the entire Vascular and Interventional Radiology section.
Our new edition features a revised organization to keep pace with the dynamics of the American Board of Radiology examinations. In addition to our introductory chapter, we have the 11 sections matching the categories of the oral board examination. Cardiac Radiology and Vascular and Interventional Radiology are now separate sections. We have added a chapter dedicated to the expanding use of Cardiac MR. We have added a chapter on Positron Emission Tomography and PET-CT to match the rapid expansion of this combined imaging modality. All chapters feature updated and added illustrations to match our reputation as pictorialists. We have added descriptions of renal stone CT, abdominal trauma CT, CT and MR urography, the imaging of anthrax and severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (SARS), the pulmonary complications of bone marrow transplant, breast MR, and many more topics of current interest. We have striven in every case to keep to our goals of being fundamental and comprehensive while concise. Growth in the size of our book parallels growth in the scope of our field. We have learned that many residents with shoulders strained by its weight have taken our book to their local copy shop and had it rebound into manageable soft-cover sections. Our publisher has agreed to offer the current edition with a four-volume soft cover option in addition to our original single-volume hardcover text.
We offer our thanks to the many individuals in addition to our authors who have contributed mightily to the text's completion. Kerry Barrett, Managing Editor, and Lisa McAllister, Executive Editor, at Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, have guided this edition from inception to completion. Barbara Stabb and her team at TechBooks in York, Pennsylvania, provided outstanding book production services. Most of all we thank the many residents, fellows, medical students, and faculty colleagues with whom we have worked and who have challenged us as teachers and radiologists.