Skeletal Muscle: Pathology, Diagnosis and Management of Disease,

edited by Victor R Preedy and Timothy J Peters, 2002, 716 pages, hardcover, $199.00. Greenwich Medical Media, San Francisco.

St Michael’s Hospital 30 Bond Street 16th Floor, CC Wing Toronto, Ontario Canada M5B 1W8 E-mail: khushjeejeebhoy{at}compuserve.com

This book is a compendium of 58 chapters written by experts on various topics related to skeletal muscle. Ten chapters are devoted to primary skeletal muscle disease, including inclusion body myositis, ion channel diseases, and metabolic, inflammatory, mitochondrial, alcoholic, and HIV myopathies. Two chapters address myasthenia gravis, and other chapters discuss muscle diseases related to abnormalities in glycogen metabolism, muscle desmin, and AMP deaminase. Muscle injuries, including exercise- and age-related injuries, are the topic of 4 chapters. The effects on muscle of systemic diseases such as sepsis, critical illness, cancer, diabetes, and renal, hepatic, and cardiac diseases are covered over 11 chapters. Methods of assessing muscle status—including histochemical and immunologic methods, computed tomography and magnetic resonance scanning, muscle-biopsy techniques, and noninvasive testing of muscle function—are addressed over 15 chapters. Only 2 chapters primarily address the effect of nutrition on muscle, ie, the effect of magnesium and potassium deficiencies on nutrition and an overview of nutritional therapies. However, nutritional issues are discussed in the chapters on free radical injury and critical illness. The remaining chapters cover topics such as the effect of steroid on muscle, the use of endocrine therapy and pharmacologic muscle preconditioning to avoid infarction, the assessment of symptoms such as pain, and the management of various muscle disorders. The last chapter in the book provides an excellent overview of gene transfer therapy.

Consistent with the title, the book covers a range of topics. Each chapter provides an excellent but concise review of the topic subject. Some chapters, such as "Review of Skeletal Muscle Injuries," provide illustrations and subheadings that make for interesting and easy reading. However, many chapters lack illustrations and make for tedious reading. Another limitation of the book is its lack of a chapter dedicated to the effects of protein-energy nutrition on muscle, although this topic is touched on in some chapters. For example, nitrogen balance is discussed in the chapter on endocrine therapy and in the chapter on acidosis. Similarly, the effect of obesity and eating disorders is not considered in detail in this book. In summary, the book is an excellent source for topics related to muscle disease. However, because the book is mainly about muscle disease, nutrition students will find only a few chapters relevant to their field of interest.