Anatomy: A Regional Atlas of the Human Body

Book Preface

It is always reinforcing and rewarding for an author when the publisher of a book requests another edition. I have now had this pleasure fi ve times aft er the fi rst edition of this atlas was published 34 years ago in 1975. Previous editions, as well as this edition, have benefi ted greatly by the many suggestions from colleagues and especially students. Students oft en approach this in a thoughtful subtle manner. First, the student may say how much he or she has learned from the book and give praise to the nature and color of the fi gures and then point out a mistaken label in one of the fi gures that may not have caught my eye. Of course, I am always grateful for these suggestions.
In this edition, I have added many new fi gures—for example, 14 new fi gures on 5 plates dealing with the brachial plexus. At the same time, a few fi gures that did not prove to be excellent teaching items have been removed. Perhaps the most important change in the book is the addition of a signifi cant number of X-rays, CT scans, and ultrasound scans. I am most grateful to Edward J. H. Nathanial, M.D., Ph.D., Emeritus Professor at the University of Winnipeg School of Medicine in Canada, for providing at least 15 fi gures of clinical signifi cance. Several fi gures also were contributed by Dr. G.L. Colborn, Emeritus Professor from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia. I have also had the pleasure of discussions with Dr. James D. Collins, Professor of Radiologic Sciences here at UCLA. I thank Dr. Constantine Karakousis, Professor of Surgery and Chief of Surgical Oncology at the University of Buff alo in Buff alo, New York, for the use of several of his fi gures and for comments on the clinical importance of several plates. Certain X-rays from Dr. Lothar Wicke’s 6th English edition of Atlas of Radiologic Anatomy, edited by Dr. Anna Taylor here at UCLA, were also used. There are more than 200 plates of clinical importance in this atlas, and I have benefi ted greatly from my discussions and collaboration with Professor Gerald Buckberg, M.D., Professor of Cardiac Surgery here at UCLA, and the late Dr. F. Torrent Guasp from Madrid, Spain, on the progressive unfolding of cardiac muscle as shown in Plate 186. These studies have given insightful information on the manner by which the heart muscle develops and matures.

Most of the figures in this atlas come from the Sobotta atlases, recent editions of which have been published by Professor R. Putz in Munich, Germany, and Professor R. Pabst in Hanover, Germany. My deepest appreciation to these two brilliant anatomists knows no bounds. Th eir German editions of Sobotta have been recently reproduced as the 14th English Edition in 2006. A number of drawings, some of which were also used in the 5th edition, were made by a former resident artist here at UCLA, Ms. Jill Penkhus. I am most grateful for her artistic creativity.