Electronic ISSN 2287-0237

VOLUME

SKELETAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE HAND & WRIST A RADIOGRAPHIC ATLAS & DIGITAL BONE AGE COMPANION

FEBRUARY 2013 - VOL.5 | BOOK REVIEW

Skeletal Development of the Hand & Wrist

A radiographic Atlas & Digital Bone Age Companion

Cree M. Gaskin, S. Lowel Kahn, J. Christopher Bertozzi, and Paul M. Bunch : Oxford University Press, Inc.

Publisher: Oxford University Press, Inc. 

 

Reviewer: Nitida Mekasut, MD1

1 Imaging Center, Bangkok Hospital, Bangkok Hospital Group, Bangkok, Thailand.

 

The Radiographic Atlas of Skeletal Development of the Hand and Wrist by Drs. Greulich and Pyles has long been the reference text for medical practitioners to determine bone age maturity. It has seen widespread use for more than fi fty years. The atlas includes a detailed description of the subtle changes of a human hand as it matures. Each image is accompanied by reference charts of the appropriate standard variation values. Comparing the subtle changes of the hand and wrist against reference standards can be very time consuming.

 The objective of this modified printed atlas is to modernize the Greulich and Pyle method for pediatric bone age interpretation for contemporary and timely medical practice. It contains updated high-quality skeletal radiographic images and reference standards of the left hand up to the age of 18 for females and 19 for males from many thousands of candidate images from PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System), University of Virginia. It also contains annotated images, opposite the bare images, that highlight important and subtle features. This layout is designed to make it easy to access data which makes interpretation faster, more accurate and educational.

This printed atlas is bundled with the Digital Bone Age Companion (DBAC), which is also available for individual or institutional  purchase. The DBAC is a freestandingTM application, which means the user can easily zoom in on subtle radiographic features, set the image level and width to their preference, and compare two or three reference standards side by side for difficult cases.

We highly recommended this modified bone age atlas: it is easy to use, practical and user-friendly.