Media Type: Textbook

Synopsis: In this era of “Googling” our questions when taking care of patients, Drs. Fekrat and colleagues provide concise, practical answers to 49 questions/dilemmas that may come up in the care provider’s mind when taking care of ophthalmology patients in the clinic. The experienced, knowledgeable, and articulate contributors of Curbside Consultation in Retina provide information in a user-friendly format that will benefit comprehensive ophthalmologists, residents, and fellows.This book fills a niche for answering various practical vitreoretinal questions of patient care, whenever they may come up.

Target Audience: Comprehensive ophthalmologists, residents, and fellows.

Review: Today, in the age of the Internet, we are used to “Googling” a case management question and are presented with an enormous amount of relevant and not so relevant information. We are faced with the challenge of finding the specific evidence based answer or expert opinion to our question from this ocean of information.

Well-known experts in the retina community, Drs. Fekrat, Moshfeghi, and Eliot, along with many of today’s leaders in the field of vitreoretinal diseases have designed this unique reference which offers expert advice, preferences, and opinions on tough clinical questions commonly encountered by residents, fellows, comprehensive ophthalmologists, and even retina specialists. The unique Q&A format provides quick access to current information related to retinal diseases with the simplicity of a conversation between two colleagues.

The book, Curbside Consultation in Retina , thoughtfully presents answers to 49 of the most commonly asked retina questions in an easy format as if you had just called up your retina colleague on the phone. Each question presents a commonly encountered scenario, be it a triage question, diagnostic or work-up dilemma, or treatment decision. The text is written in a language that is crisp and lucid with tabular presentations, and some clinical and diagnostic images that make it easy for the busy clinician to find information very quickly. There are useful, practical questions on various testing modalities like optical coherence tomography, fluorescein angiography, and electrophysiology in the book. The 5 chapters on the various scenarios on planning before, during, and after cataract surgery are a great resource to a busy cataract surgeon.

Criticisms of this book are few and minor. I would have liked to see more illustrations, tables, flow-charts and pictures in some of the questions. It would be nice to have an electronic version of this book on your computer in the office or even on your smartphone or personal digital device to look up answers and recommendations to these commonly presented scenarios.

In summary, Curbside Consultation in Retina is an outstanding addition to the ophthalmic literature. This resource has the potential to support us in our day-to-day clinical practice, and even be a nice teaching and review guide that can be used in the office, during inpatient consults, in the operating room, or in an emergency setting.