This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.
This is a difficult book to review. It is written by one of the "greats" in medicine and appears to have been intended to share with others the methods he employs in the management of patients with chronic obstructive lung disease. The title, A Treatment Manual for Patients With Pulmonary Emphysema, seems to indicate that the book was written for patients; however, from the content it seems apparent that it is intended for general physicians and neither for patients nor pulmonary experts. It is replete with references to arterial carbon dioxide pressure, arterial oxygen pressure, pH, etc, which are hardly part of the jargon of patients.
Perhaps the book could best be described as a treatise on Barach's use of ambulatory oxygen therapy and physical rehabilitative methods for patients with pulmonary emphysema. Very little space is devoted to drug therapy, aerosol and intermittent positive pressure breathing and none to the