File Size: 662 KB
Print Length: 231 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Life & Style; 1 edition (March 5, 2009)
Publication Date: March 25, 2009
Language: English
ASIN: B001UL3ACS
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #103,654 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #16 in Books > Medical Books > Medicine > Surgery > Neurosurgery #69 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Medical eBooks > Internal Medicine > Neurology > Neuroscience #100 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Medical
BRAIN SURGEONA Doctor's Inspiring Encounters with Mortality and MiraclesKeith Black, MD with Arnold MannWellness CentralHachette Book GroupISBN: 978-0-446-58109-7$24.99Reviewer: Annie SlessmanNot being in the medical field, I expected BRAIN SURGEON, A Doctor's Inspiring Encounters with Mortality and Miracles by Keith Black, MD with Arnold Mann to be a hard, dry read. I could not have been more wrong! Dr. Black and Arnold Mann have managed to take a subject matter - brain surgery - from the mysterious to something easily understood by everyone.Dr. Black uses a series of stories about his patients and their courage and surprising stamina to relate his experiences and inform the reader about the mysteries of the brain. Each story explains the many types of brain cancer and the degree of difficulty that each occurrence requires in its treatment.For instance, my own daughter was recently diagnosed with a tumor in her liver. We were told the tumor was not cancerous. She had only taken a MRI - how can they tell the tumor is not cancerous by an image test? Well, I got my answer when Dr. Black explained that a tumor which is cancerous absorbs more of the dye making it more prominent in the MRI. Thank you, Dr. Black, I found your book and its ability to explain things in simple terms very comforting.Dr. Black, early in his career leans toward cardiology. When he took his first neuro-anatomy class, he was hooked. As he states, "the bottom line is that the heart is just a muscle, a pump, to be sure, it's a very elegant muscle and a great pump, but it's still a pump. The brain, on the other hand, is the ultimate reduction of self.
I read this book as a person who's needing to select a brain surgeon for a rare type of meningioma. Not only was Dr Black's personal story about how he came to be a neuro-surgeon fascinating, but it was the best source of education I've seen for a patient.I've gained enough of an understanding about how brain surgery is done, to now ask specific questions of potential surgeons that are critical to my recovery.Dr Black's personal philosophy about how magnificent the brain is directly correlates with his surgical techniques to do everything possible to not touch any healthy brain tissue. He states his job is "to be a thief in the night, by getting in there to steal the tumor before the brain knows he's even been there".His compassion and humility are profoundly represented in the stories he shares about his patients. He repeatedly states that "his patients are the real heros not the neurosurgeons". It restores my hope to learn of a doctor who continually asks himself, "is this in the best interest of the patient".I was also interested in how he explained that the reward system for traditional medical research doesn't always lend itself to a direct usefulness for clinical practice. The research practice he's set-up is looking for direct "bench to bedside" impact, and that is how we'll see advancement to cure brain cancer.I was shocked to realize that out of the 5000 licensed neuro-surgeons in the US, 4900 of them are dedicated to spinal surgery and of the remaining 100, 50 of those are vascular surgeons. That leaves about 50 docs who are completely focused on brain tumors. Statistics don't lie about the best surgical outcomes for ANY type of surgery is related to how often a surgeon does a specific surgery.
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