Preface
The
traditional teaching
of
clinical medicine
by the
bedside,
by
lectures, tutorials
and
through textbooks
is
mainly
system-
and
disease-oriented.
Diseases
are
pre-
sented under their relevant system headings
and all the
clinical
manifestations, irrespective
of
their regional
and
anatomical diversity,
are
presented
under
each
disease.
This discipline
of
learning clinical medicine
is
contrary
to how it is
practised
in
real
life,
where
the
history
and
examination
may
have
to be
constructed
on a
single
symptom
or an
asymptomatic sign.
The
patient presents
with
one or
more symptoms
and the
examiner, during
history-taking
and
clinical examination, takes
note
of
various
signs that
are
present
and
constructs
a
diagnosis
from
these.
In
this
book
I
have endeavoured
to
mirror
life
and
have
presented
signs
as
they
are
likely
to be
seen
on a
visual
survey
of a
patient, starting
at the
face
and
moving down
step-by-step
to the
feet.
A
brief description
of
each disease
is
given
as the
part
of the
body
it
affects
is
covered
in
the
sequence
of the
scalp-to-sole
survey,
and
with
each
mention
of a
condition
a few
more
details
are
added.
The
book explores
the
visual content
of
clinical medicine
and
covers both pathognomonic
and
fundamental signs
as
well
as
non-specific signs.
These
clinical features presented
in
an
anatomical context
will,
hopefully,
offer
an
iterative
stimulus
to the
student's
memory
and
thereby
help
the
retentive ability
of the
reader. Thus, this atlas presents
the
synthesis
of a
clinical diagnosis
from
the
features scattered
around
the
body
and
encourages
the
student
to
look
for
these.
In
this
age of
'superspecialization',
it is
becoming
increasingly
difficult
for
undergraduates
as
well
as
post-
graduate students anywhere
in the
world
to see the
full
spectrum
of
clinical signs.
The
increasing demands
on the
clinical
curriculum
from
the
advancing
old
specialities
and
emerging
new
ones have reduced
the
time available
to
stu-
dents
to
experience
the
full
breadth
of
clinical medicine.
Today
it is
quite usual
to find
students graduating
from
various medical
schools
in
this
and
other countries with
no
clinical instruction
in, for
example, dermatology, rheuma-
tology
or
neurology!
This
problem
is
compounded
by the
fact
that many diseases
are
often
treated early,
more
effec-
tively
and
now,
more
often,
in the
community.
There
are
fewer
opportunities
for
students
to see the
usual
and
less
common signs,
and yet
they
are
likely
to be
confronted
with
these
signs
in
examination
and in
their subsequent
clinical
practice.
In
this book
I
have addressed this problem
by
covering
as
much neurology, dermatology, rheumatol-
ogy
and
ophthalmology
as may
confront
a
hospital doctor
and
a
general practitioner.
In
addition
to the
colour pic-
tures
of the
clinical signs
of
each condition presented here,
anatomical sketches
and
line diagrams have been included,
wherever appropriate, both
to
improve
the
understanding
of
clinical features
and to
cover some important,
but
non-
visual
signs.
This book presents
a
structured approach
to
clinical
diagnosis
from
a
single sign, suggests
other
areas
to
look
at for
relevant supplementary signs and,
at
appropriate
places, gives
the
critical
'chairside'
tests
to
confirm
a
diag-
nosis. This approach makes some repetition inevitable,
but
this
has
been
kept
to a
minimum
and the
clinical signs have
been
cross-referenced
for
easy revision.
When
I
started work
on the first
edition
of
this
book
my
main objective
was to
present
a
pictorial guide
for
the
inspection part
of the
clinical assessment. Some
of
my
well-wisher colleagues
had
expressed understandable
doubt about
the
success
of
such
a
venture
in an age
when
technology makes
it
possible
to see the
condition
of
almost
any
internal organ. Contemporary clinical practice
tends
to
suggest that
the
budding clinician
of
today
would
much rather
get an
ultrasound
of the
abdomen
than spend time
at
looking
at its
external contours.
I
felt
that
my
modest
effort
would
at
least serve those students
whose self-esteem would
not
allow them
to
dispense
with
what
their eyes could
do
before calling technology
to
their
aid.
It is
pleasing
to
note that
in the UK and USA
12,000
copies have
been
sold
and the
book
was
translated into
seven languages.
Bedside
medicine
is not
dead
after
all!
I
am
grateful
to all
those
who
have
found
this
book
of
some
use and
have encouraged
me to
produce
the
second
edition.
In
introducing some embellishments
I
have taken advice
mainly
from
students
who
have generously given their
comments
to me. In the first
edition,
I had
omitted
the
legends because
I
thought that students would have
a
chance
to
make their
own
observations before reading
the
text
to
look
for the
diagnosis.
I am
told that
it
would
be
preferable
to
have
the
legends giving
the
telling feature
of
each picture,
and
that
it
would
also
help students
to
apply
appropriate descriptive terms.
In
addition
to
providing
the
legends,
I
have made some amendments
and
additions
to
the
text.
I
have withdrawn seven pictures that were
either
repetitive
or
unsatisfactory, replaced eight others with
those
with
more
expressive visual content,
and
introduced
39
pictures with additional signs.
I
hope
the
students
will
find
these
changes
useful.