This book provides a complete overview of all modalities used for hand and wrist imaging, along with a complete overview of the various disease entities that can be diagnosed. As a state-of-the-art overview of hand and wrist imaging it is a reference work for radiologists, hand surgeons, orthopedists, traumatologists, rheumatologists and internists and their residents in training. The chapters are written by experts in musculoskeletal radiology from various European countries and the USA.

The diagnosis of osteoporosis and the determination of fracture risk has always been a challenge for radiologists, epidemiologists, and clinicians as well as oth er researchers and health care professionals working in the field. It is bone min eral density that is closely related to bone fragility, and the advent of techniques to quantitatively assess bone density has been welcomed. It has reduced the sub jectivity inherent to conventional radiologic assessment of osteoporosis. The on going technical process has made various techJ)iques to assess bone density wide ly available. However, these measurement techniques have also incurred some crit icism because bone densitometry has sometimes been applied without specific indications and without appropriate clinical ramifications. The purpose of this text is to provide a perspective on the current status of bone densitometry and ist relevance to osteoporosis diagnosis and management. Therefore, this book will give the reader an introduction to the nature of osteo porosis, its pathophysiology and epidemiology, and the clinical consequences of performing bone densitometry. Aside from standard bone densitometry, newer technologies such as quantitative ultrasound techniques, magnetic resonance imaging and bone structure analysis are discussed in the context of diagnosing osteoporosis."

Plain radiography is still alive. In many institutions, including ours, conventional radiography has been replaced by digital systems including imaging-plate-based computed radiography and fat-panel detector-based digital radiography. Even for the education of radiation technologists, conventional flm-screen radiography has been de-- phasized, and their education is concentrated on digital systems. Spatial resolution of a conventional system is still far better than the current digital systems, although the dynamic range is wider in the latter system. Industrial flm radiography with small grain size and direct exposure has an even higher resolution, and such hi- resolution systems are something we lost in the transition from the conventional system to the current PACS-friendly system. I am pleased to know that Giuseppe Guglielmi and Wilfred Peh have published this textbook of high-resolution hand radiographs that cannot be obtained with any other techniques. Radiography has always been the most important modality in the evaluation of the hand, and, moreover, high-resolution industrial flms are extremely efective in the evaluation of the hand, particularly for assessing subtle erosions. Hands are not just one of the peripheries of the human body. Tey refect conditions of the whole human body. Not only the metabolic status, but also many congenital disorders are manifested in the hand. Radiographic fndings of the hand are ofen specifc, and contribute to the diagnoses a great deal. Tere have been several publications concerning the radiology of the hand, and they have been well accepted.

La "cultura geriatrica" - intesa come conoscenza e dominio dei processi di invecchiamento - non ha avuto ancora piena affermazione in campo medico-sanitario. Questo comporta che il piu delle volte non si sappia distinguere a pieno il limite tra il fisiologico e il patologico che distinge l'anziano sano con gli inevitabili "acciacchi" dovuti all'invecchiamento da quello abbisognevole di supporti sanitari e/o assistenziali. Finora si e spesso trattato l'anziano con la cultura dell'adulto, molto diversa da quella geriatrica, con il risultato di considerare malato anche chi ha solo il torto di dimostrare i propri anni. In sostanza, mentre le eta della crescita e della piena efficienza sono ben conosciute nei loro aspetti normali e patologici, non altrettanto avviene per l'eta della decadenza, per la quale ci si avvale impropriamente di un altro metro di valutazione. Il risultato inevitabile di tutto questo e che gli interventi di supporto per la terza eta possono essere scorretti, cosi come l'impiego delle risorse umane e finanziare ad essa destinate. I vincoli economici sempre piu stretti da un lato e il progressivo allargamento della popolazione anziana dall'altro rendono ormai ineludibile l'affermarsi di una vera e propria "cultura geriatrica" non solo in campo diagnostico radiologico ma anche in tutte le altre discipline specialistiche. Quest'opera vuole andare in questa direzione."

Dopo esserci occupati della comunicazione degli esami radiologici nei Pazienti degenti in Ospedale, riteniamo opportuno trattarla anche in quelli ambulatoriali; in modo da completare l'argomento e integrare gli ambiti sanitari. Infatti, negli ambulatori convenzionati vengono effettuate prestazioni sanitarie, che l'Ospedale non e in grado di erogare, anche e soprattutto a Utenti, cioe a persone in apparente benessere, con le seguenti caratteristiche: -comunicazione di stato di malattia in fase pre-clinica, cioe asintomatica; -comunicazione di negativita in presunto malato; -richiamo ad adeguato stile di vita (cultura della salute); -educazione sanitaria. Tutto cio implica l'integrazione multi-disciplinare (Radiologo, Psicologo, Eticista, Economista, etc..) e l'applicazione di modelli comunicativi-sia di metodo che applicativi-finalizzati e specifici."

In this issue, guest editors bring their considerable expertise to this important topic. Provides in-depth reviews on the latest updates in the field, providing actionable insights for clinical practice. Presents the latest information on this timely, focused topic under the leadership of experienced editors in the field. Authors synthesize

This book addresses in a structured and multidisciplinary way the medical issues related to aging, paying particular attention to the role of diagnostic imaging in the field of cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, respiratory, neurological, urogenital and gastrointestinal diseases.The progressive increase of the average age of the population, of life expectancy and the improvement of the quality of life are common phenomena in many countries of the World. Over the years, the management of older persons seems to have had an increasing impact both on the socio-economic and on the medical-health level. Medicine, in all its branches, has in fact focused more and more on the health conditions of the elderly patient and its protection and, in this context, due to the increasing progress in the field of technology and imaging methods, the radiologist occupies a front-line position. Unlike the young or middle-aged patients, the elderly need special care and attention, especially because of the involutive-degenerative senile processes they have to face, which must be taken into account to avoid incurring into misdiagnosis. Radiology, in fact, aims more and more at developing imaging techniques that are on the one hand satisfactory and comprehensive, but at the same time that do not represent any risk and/or obstacle for the elderly patient. The aim of this book is to provide the radiologist, and not only, with an adequate and complete geriatric preparation, thus to improve the diagnostic-therapeutic management of those patients who, to date, constitute the most conspicuous part of the medical-health users.