PC Gerszten S Ryu (eds) 2008. Thieme Medical Publishers, New York, Stuttgart, ISBN: 978-1-58890-509-3, 158pp, illus.

Spine Radiosurgery is a valuable resource for radiation oncologists, neurosurgeons, oncologists, orthopedic surgeons and other health-care personnel who are interested in learning more about spine radiosurgery. This book concentrates on the radiosurgical treatment of spinal pathologies. The authors start with very basic information on radiobiology for both radiosurgery and spinal cord, and this part includes important concepts for readers who are not very familiar with radiobiology. Every chapter is described in detail with beautiful illustrations and precise tables. The statistical graphs are elegant and easy to understand. This book is detailed enough to supply every basic information on spinal radiosurgery, and the chapters are briefly summarized in 158 pages, which is short enough to facilitate reading for interested health-care personnel.

The book is divided into three main sections. In the first section, radiobiology of radiosurgery and spinal cord and clinical spinal cord tolerance to radiosurgery have been described. In this section, the authors have briefly cited basic knowledge. Figures, graphs and histological colored plates are well presented in this section. The second section of the book is about physics and techniques. This section is divided into four major chapters regarding patient immobilization, imaging and target localization, as well as treatment delivery and quality assurance in spine radiosurgery. The second section also describes briefly, but detailed enough, the major concepts of spine radiosurgery. The last section of the book is the most important part. This section includes more specific chapters on spinal metastasis, extramedullary spine tumors, functional spine radiosurgery, target delineation and dose prescription, primary spine tumors, spinal canal compromise, radiosurgery of benign extramedullary tumors of the spine and spinal cord arteriovenous malformations. The authors have also included biomechanical assessment of spinal instability and stabilization, which is one of the basic concepts affecting the results of a successful treatment strategy. Multidisciplinary approaches to the spinal cord, treatment failure and complications are the other chapters that provide current information to a multidisciplinary team. I believe that all necessary information has been included in these chapters, which are briefly summarized, and the references provide a start for the more interested reader. The detailed index of the book provides quick access to a specific topic for the reader.

In summary, this book is very well written, current and provides valuable information with regard to spine radiosurgery. Overall, I would highly recommend ‘Spine Radiosurgery’ to all health-care personnel who are involved in treating patients with spinal radiosurgery.