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As with all Lange Medical Books, this book is intended to meet the needs of students. The first through fifth editions were written as companions to Lange’s popular Basic Histology, Junqueira, Carneiro, and Mescher, now in its sixteenth edition. In the sixth edition of this review, the correspondence with the text’s chapter layout has been retained to continue that relationship. This edition contains revisions of many chapters to include advances in cell biology and biological mechanisms that have become fundamental to medical education and practice. The reader is again reminded that although this review can be used as an adjunct to any standard textbook of histology, it is not intended as a substitute.
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All of the synopses have been edited to make them more concise. This will be a constant goal in developing this book through future editions. A further improvement is the updating of questions with case-related stems in the Diagnostic Final Examination (Chapter 25). The USMLE Part I examinations now consist almost entirely of this question type. Questions in the individual chapters remain similar to those you encounter in your course examinations because this format, in addition to being beneficial in preparing for course and NBME subject examinations, is more useful in quickly identifying specific knowledge deficits. Readers are encouraged to read carefully the “How to Use This Book” section before beginning their study or review of histology. This section will help you not only with histology but also with all your basic science coursework.
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My greatest wish is for this book to help you to gain the knowledge required for effective medical practice and to prepare for examinations designed to test that knowledge. Readers’ comments and suggestions are welcome and have again been helpful in improving the book. Your contributions may assist many other students in the coming years.
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I would like to acknowledge the contributions of several people who were instrumental in the publication of this book. Drs. Rita Finley, Brenda Klement, Gale Newman, Jacqueline Powell, Mary Scanlon, Mary Saltarelli, Lawrence Wineski, and Nina Zanetti provided helpful advice and information. The encouragement and insight of Lange editor Michael Weitz were invaluable in making improvements in this edition and getting it into print. All readers owe a debt of gratitude to Susan Worley for her efforts to clarify the meaning of the text and make it more readable. Finally, the improvements in the appearance and usefulness of the figures in this edition reflect the artistic efforts and attention to detail of Becky Hainz-Baxter and Manoj Srivastava. I would especially like to thank Neelu Sahu for her diligent effort and support in making the many changes to this edition and for assembling all of its components for publication. Many thanks to everyone for their hard work.
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