Author: Timothy Blaufuss, DO
Publisher and year: BlaufCo, LLC Publishing, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1719239653
Price: $19.99 (Paperback)

Common Sense Pediatric Gastroenterology: A Practical Guide, authored by Dr. Tim Blaufuss, was envisioned during a home call, when heidentified the need for a resource for commonpediatric gastroenterology related clinical questions. Dr. Blaufuss recently completed his pediatric gastroenterology fellowship at Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO, and has joined Sanford Health, Fargo, ND. This book primarily targets pediatric gastroenterology trainees; however, pediatricians, residents and currentpediatric gastroenterologists also will find this book beneficial.

The book is well-written in a bulleted format with extensive use of helpful tables, algorithms,flowcharts and formulas. The writing style makesthis book extremely easy to navigate, especially when tending to phone calls after hours. This pocket- sized, 50-60 page, light-weight book is divided into two major sections, namely Gastroenterology and Hepatology. These sections are further divided into

various topics and subtopics. A reference section highlighting crucial articles as they pertain to particular topics has been incorporated as well. The section on hepatology has an impressive outline for the work-up of laboratory abnormalities, and it addresses not only common biliary, autoimmune and infectious etiologies but also less common metabolic liver diseases and benign/malignant liver masses. The book concludes with a Quick Medication Guide where the most commonly used GI drugs, their doses, and common indicationsare efficiently tabulated. Most recent guidelinesand up-to-date evidence from a variety of sources have been used to formulate the book. In addition to addressing common symptoms, pathologies, and diseases, more rare clinical entities as well as their diagnosis, management, and treatment pearls also are discussed. In spite of being concise, this book is comprehensive and detailed. Of course, this book will maintain its applicability when updated frequently. In future editions, inclusion of endoscopy and histology pearls with imagesmight prove beneficial to readers.

In summary, this book cannot be applauded enough for its crisp format and thorough presentation of topics both common and rare. We would highly recommend this book to every budding pediatric gastroenterologist as a pocket guide for daily use.