The Man Who Got Lost In Duty Free - Video Casebook: Medicine

Andrew Levy
Blackwell Science, 1999;
£15.95
ISBN 0632053828
Rating: 3/4

The title is bewildering and this will certainly encourage the reader to explore beyond the covers. This is not a mystery novelette; it is a compilation of 50 real medical cases. It is packed with photographs of the patients involved and accompanied by a CD Rom filled with video clips that effectively illustrate the diseases.

Professor Levy introduces the readers to a man lost in an airport who subsequently became irritable and confused during his flight. The other clue given is that the man's promiscuous lifestyle led to an HIV infection. At the end of a half page history we are told that this man has AIDS dementia. What follows is a minitutorial on HIV infection and AIDS dementia, complete with the pathophysiology. Five multiple choice questions are conveniently added at the end of each case - probably to check whether the reader has been paying attention or has simply been overwhelmed by the gripping history.

The layout is the same throughout, and each case is headed with a phrase covering the main symptoms of each patient. The other 49 cases cover a wide range of medicine. Be prepared to think laterally. You discover that "The man who couldn't mount a camel" has Klinefelter's syndrome, while "the man with a Rastafarian hat" turns out to have cranial Paget's.

This book covers many common conditions in patients who visit their doctors with trivial signs and symptoms. It is probably the next best thing to bedside teaching as patients are brought to life with their interesting histories and pictures. If the sight of a book makes you feel sleepy then the remedy is to use the CD Rom to get acquainted with the patient. Reading the Notes and Basic Science sections will encourage readers to appreciate the medical conditions and to consult a standard text for details. Some differential diagnoses, how. ever, may be too detailed or obscure.

This book is a real bargain - suitable for final year students, those pursuing higher qualifications, and those who enjoy the real challenge in diagnostic medicine. One lesson to be learnt: patients do not always present as standard textbook cases. You have been warned.

Kay Seong Ngoo, fourth medical student, University of Aberdeen
Email: uolksn@abdn.ac.uk


studentBMJ 2001;09:129-170 May ISSN 0966-6494