It is important that surgeons, the individuals usually called on to treat limb ulcers, be aware of the multiplicity of disorders, other than venous and arterial disease, that may cause such lesions. The authors, Dr Roenigk, a dermatologist, and Dr Young, an internist, with the aid of four colleagues from the Cleveland Clinic, have created an attractive little monograph that should serve this purpose beautifully.
Varied dermatologic, hematologic, metabolic, infectious, and oncologic causes are treated in a comprehensive fashion. Indeed, several textbooks in the fields mentioned would have to be studied to obtain a comparable presentation.
While I enjoyed the entire book, I found the chapter on vasculitis particularly useful. The chapters on diseases of major vessels are adequate, but this material is not a special feature of the book. The illustrations, many in color, are good and help one to learn the pertinent differential diagnosis.