Rosen PP:

Breast Pathology. Diagnosis by Needle Core Biopsy, 311 pp, Philadelphia, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1999, ($169).

This well-illustrated manual deals with the histologic features of breast diseases as seen in needle core biopsies. Because the use of needles of various calibers is becoming more and more popular, the need for such books will obviously increase, and they might turn out to be popular with practicing pathologists.

The book is divided into 31 chapters that cover essentially all features of normal and abnormal breast biopsies encountered in a busy hospital practice. Color figures illustrating these conditions are excellent, even though some of them are accompanied with rather brief descriptions. The text is also short and to the point. Obviously the book was aimed at experienced pathologists who will have no problems identifying the salient features in these illustrations and will not need a more detailed text. The beginners probably would be better off with Dr. Rosen's “big book.”

In addition to common entities, the book also deals with the more esoteric lesions, included for the sake of completeness. These entities need to be considered in the differential diagnosis of the more common diseases, and to better understand the variants that may pose diagnostic problems. Less experienced pathologists, such as the present reviewer, probably would have profited if some differential diagnostic points were spelled out in greater detail, but even so I think that I have learned a lot, and especially about the differences between the histopathology of tumors in conventional and needle core biopsies.

I have kept Dr. Rosen's book next to my microscope and have consulted it successfully in working up some complex breast biopsies. The high quality pictures were invariably informative and are my favorite feature—I am almost sure that they will be appealing to other pathologists as well. The book is ideally suited for busy hospital-based practicing pathologists in need of an authoritative and reliable manual.