cover image Hysterectomy: Before and After: A Comprehensive Guide to Preventing, Preparing For, and Maximizing Health After Hysterectomy

Hysterectomy: Before and After: A Comprehensive Guide to Preventing, Preparing For, and Maximizing Health After Hysterectomy

Winnifred Cutler. HarperCollins Publishers, $19.95 (449pp) ISBN 978-0-06-015916-0

Those who devote themselves to patient study of this none-too-accessible guide will be rewarded with some of the most up-to-date research available on hysterectomy. They'll receive an in-depth anatomy lesson and will be guided step-by-step through the diagnosis of diseases that can lead to hysterectomy. Cutlerfounder of the Stanford Menopause Study and the Women's Wellness Program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvaniawill coach them in alternative treatments and advise them of post-surgical care. Most important, her readers may be spared the trauma of an unnecessary surgical procedure. However, only the most dedicated will wade through the author's welter of references, clinical charts and dense prose. Much of the text reads like a textbook, replete with documentation, scholarly apparatus and medical minutiae. Probably not for the average reader, Cutler's book nevertheless contains information useful in helping others through (or around) this controversial medical procedure. (Oct.)