The fourth edition of this treatise provides a most informative overview of the management of the multitude of foot problems encountered in the diabetic. Since, as the authors note, 15% of diabetics develop foot ulcers and 20% of all diabetics who enter hospitals do so because of foot problems, the information contained in this volume becomes essential for all members of the rather large team required to care for these patients.
The initial chapters delineate newer concepts of the pathophysiology of vascular disease in the diabetic and summarize recent thoughts about the role of monocytes, growth factors, prostaglandins, lipids, and platelets in producing vascular obstruction. Perhaps a more extensive discussion of the controversies about the role of the basement membrane would have been useful. Chapter 12 on anatomy and surgical pathology would seem to me to logically belong with the initial chapters on pathology.
Excellent sections on neuropathy and the