The Musculoskeletal System

Abstract

Book reviews Pathology of Rheumatic Diseases. By H. G. FASSBENDER, translated by G. LOEWI. 1975. Pp. 353, 444 figs. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York. (DM. 104) 'His book', writes Joseph Lee Hollander in the foreword to H. G. Fassbender's Pathology of Rheumatic Diseases, 'will be a much used addition to my library on arthritis.' Many rheumatologists and pathologists will share this view, and be glad to possess these handsomely produced results of 25 years' experience and careful study. Most of the space is occupied by 444 black and white illustrations, many of the photomicrographs being very fine (such as those showing palisading surrounding necrotic vessels) or unusual (such as the appearance of synovial histology after several hundred intra-articular injections). Despite its comprehensive title, the book is nevertheless rather selective, limiting itself to accounts of rheumatic fever, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, gout, chondrocalcinosis, osteoarthrosis, and nonarticular rheumatism (with very short sections on the components of connective tissue, pathological reactions, and experimental arthritis). It is therefore in no way a general reference work and does not deal, for example, with the various forms of infective arthritis, Reiter's disease, disc degeneration, and spondylosis, or the inflammatory disorders of connective tissue such as lupus erythematosus. Moreover, Professor Fassbender, probably very wisely, confines himself to his morphological studies. His tool is the light microscope, and to a lesser extent the electron microscope. Although he does not hesitate to theorize about the relation of pathological findings to immunological events, no attempt is made to explore current concepts of immunopathology in any depth. Again, while accepting the usually-held view that the articular surface in rheumatoid arthritis is eroded by enzymatic activity originating from synovial tissue cells, copyright.