骨及骨关节疾病诊断学.第5卷（英文原版）

ThenewmillenniumandrightonschedulecomesthefourtheditionofDiagnosisofBoneandJointorders.This,then,isthethirdtimeIhaverevisedthistextsinceitsinitialpublicationin1981,morethan2decadesago.EachtimeIhavebegunworkonanewedition,Ibe-lievedincorrectlythatmyjobwouldbeeasierbecause,Ithought,howmuchinformationcouldpossiblyhavebeenintroducedinthe5or6yearsthathadelapsedsincethepreviousedition?Andeachtime,withoutex-ception,Ihavebeensurprisedbytheprogressthathasoccurredwithregardtothefurtherunderstandingandimproveddiagnosticassessmentofthemanydiseasesthataffectthemusculoskeletalsystem.Sonow,7yearsafterthepublicationofthethirdedition,thefourtheditionisofferedasclearevidencethatmuchhasbeenlearned,newconceptshaveemerged,and"oldfacts"havebeenmodifiedoreliminatedaltogether.Iamoftenaskedatthetimeofpublicationofaneweditionpreciselyhowmuchofthematerialisappearingforthefirsttime.Thisisadifficultquestiontoanswerquantitatively.Myeducatedguessisthat30percentoftheinformationisneworhasbeenmodifiedsignificantlyfromthatcontainedinthethirdedition,thatthenumberofreferenceshasbeenexpandedby25to35percent(withemphasisgiventopertinentrecentpublications),andthatnewillustrationsrepresent25to30percentofthetotalnumberappearinginthisedition.Withregardtotheillustrativematerial,thenewfiguresunderscoretheincreasingimportanceofMRimagingasavehicleforinvestigationofthesediseases.Thesizeofthefourtheditiondoesnotdiffersignifi-cantlyfromthatofthelastedition,althoughthenumberofvolumeshasbeendecreasedbyone.(Youwillnotethateachissomewhatheavierthaninthepast!)Tobecertainthatthismultivolumebookdidnotbecometoolarge,Iconsultedextensivelywiththefollowingchanges.