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| 2 | 2012
Klinisk Biokemi i Norden
Book review:
Klinisk biokjemi og fysiologi,
Tor Arne Hagve and Jens Petter Berg
Isleifur Olafsson
Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Landspitali University Hospital, Reykjavik.
The first edition of the Norwegian textbook, Klinisk
biokjemi og fysiologi, was published in 1997, but
earlier editions were printed as compendiums, dating
back to 1972. The new edition is the fifteenth, if the
compendiums are taken into account, but the fourth
edition as a textbook. An elite team of 40 Norwegian
professionals in clinical biochemistry and physiology
contributed to the present publication. As stated in
the foreword the textbook is first and foremost writ-
ten for medical students and is intended to describe
basic biochemical and physiological knowledge and
pathophysiology of clinical conditions.
The textbook is published by Gyldendal Akade-
misk i Oslo and covers 448 pages, an addition of
approximately 50 pages compared to the third edi-
tion. In the new edition the contents are subdivided
into a general part and an organ related part and the
33
chapters are thus rearranged compared to previous
edition. Three new chapers are added, one on trace
elements, the second on autoimmune disorders and
autoantibodies and the third on cerebrospinal fluid
analysis in conjunction with diseases causing demen-
tia. A separate chapter on clinical enzymology has
been deleted but enzymes are addressed under the
organ specific chapters. Numerous colorful schema-
tic and informative illustrations and tables are used
and when authors want to put emphasis on specific
facts they put it in highlighted text boxes. Clinical
cases are presented in shaded text boxes and con-
cluding remarks and conclusions are found on the
following pages.
The text is straightforward and easily understood.
Biochemical and physiological processes in health
and disease are in some instances dealt with in sepa-
rate chapters but sometimes they are integrated. The
chapters on hematology and coagulation as well as
those on diseases of the heart are very well written
and illustrated. A few shortcommings in this oth-
erwise well constructed book could nevertheless be
mentioned. The textbook does not discuss analytical
methods used in clinical biochemistry, instrument
technology, molecular genetics or therapeutic drug
monitoring. In the chapter on kidney function and
electrolyte balance information about iohexol clea-
rance and cystatin C are missing. The text on the
biological and clinical aspects of PSA and other can-
cer markers is quite limited.
This textbook can be highly recommended for
medical students, but can also serve as a handy and
quick orientation for laboratory personnel and other
more knowlegable readers.
