Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics: Use and Assessment of Clinical Laboratory Results. Lothar Thomas. Frankfurt/Main, Germany: TH-Books Verlagsgeselschaft, 1998, 1727 pp., $149.00. ISBN 3-9805215-4-0.

This is the first English edition of Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics , which has had five previous German editions dating from 1978. Unlike laboratory medicine in the US, laboratory medicine in Germany is considered a stand-alone medical discipline that is separate from pathology. Review of the table of contents of this book reveals some of these differences, which include decreased emphasis on hematopathology and greater emphasis on special fluid analysis as well as neurological and autoimmune diseases. In great detail, the authors describe the analysis of special fluids, the characteristics of cerebrospinal fluid in neurological diseases, and the serology …