Litman’s Basics of Pediatric Anesthesia, 3rd Edition

By: Ronald S. Litman and Aditee Ambardekar

ISBN: 9780323829021

Pub Date: September 7, 2022

Reviewed By: Harrison D Pravder, MD (Yale School of Medicine)

Description  

This third-edition book masterfully reviews physiologic, pharmacologic, and other important principles of pediatric anesthesiology. It is an easy read that highlights topics ranging from fetal lung development to pediatric critical care. The book provides brief but excellent overviews of congenital syndromes and diseases that are unique to the field, and offers sound organization, allowing for quick reference and review. The previous edition was published in 2016. This is a timely, informative, and useful update to the prior edition. 

This book updates Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) guidelines and includes more modern topics such as opioid-sparing anesthesia, sugammadex, and new fasting interval guidelines. 

Purpose  

The book’s purpose is to modernize the prior edition and include topics that are important to anesthesiologists of the 2020s. The book excels in this area by adding more novel medications since the prior edition (e.g., sugammadex) and incorporating important topics that have been previously marginalized, such as racial inequalities in pediatric anesthesia. The objectives are certainly worthy and sorely needed in the aging anesthesiology literature. The book meets its objectives. 

Audience  

Written for “pediatric anesthesia learners at all levels,” this book is predominantly geared toward pediatric trainees; however, it is valuable to senior anesthetists as well. The book does a good job of providing enough details to be understood by learners at all levels. The authors are highly credible anesthesiologists at top children’s hospitals. 

Features  

The book covers a complete overview of anesthetic management of the child. It addresses underlying physiology that is important to understand in order to truly master pediatric anesthesiology. This book stands out in including topics that many (if not most) other selections ignore. Most striking is the topic of inequalities in pediatric anesthesia — of which a one-page blurb discusses the minimal research in the area and need for further evaluations. The book would benefit from more ultrasound images, especially in the pain management section, though overall the images and figures in the book are sufficient. 

Assessment   

This book is incredibly useful for pediatric trainees of all levels as both a reference book and introductory text. It effectively replaces the prior edition by updating topics that must be modernized in any current textbook in pediatric anesthesiology. 

©Doody’s Review Service, 2023, Harrison D. Pravder, MD (Yale School of Medicine) Score: 97 – 5 Stars! 

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