Inborn Metabolic Diseases : Diagnosis and Treatment

This classical textbook has become indispensable for those in the front line dealing with metabolic disorders. The book is aimed at all those involved with this specialty including pediatricians, biochemists, dieticians, neurologists, internists, geneticists, psychologists, nurses, and social workers. This 4th edition has been thoroughly updated and revised. One new chapter on Neonatal screening by tandem MS/MS has been added and several new groups of disorders have been included. The book’s main feature is the strong emphasis on clinical presentation and treatment in acute and chronic situation. Since the publication of the first edition sixteen years ago, Inborn Metabolic Diseases – Diagnosis and Treatment has become a classic textbook, indispensable for those involved in the care of children and adults with inborn errors of metabolism, including pediatricians, biochemists, die- th cians, neurologists, internists, geneticists, psychologists, nurses, and social workers. This new 4 edition has been extensively revised. An additional clinician, John Walter, has joined the three other editors, there is a new chapter on neonatal screening, including tandem MS/MS, and several new disorders have been included, for example defects involving the pentose phosphate pathway (polyol metabolism) and disorders of glucose transport. However, the focus of the book remains clinical, describing symptoms and signs at presentation, how to come to a diagnosis and methods for treatment. As with the previous edition, the book can be used in two main ways. If the diagnosis is not known the reader should first refer to Chapter 1. This chapter, which includes a number of algorithms and tables, lists the clinical findings under four main headings: the neonatal period and early infancy; acute presentation in late infancy and beyond; chronic and progressive disease; and specific organ involvement. In addition a list of important symptoms or signs can be found at the end of the chapter which then refers either to the text, a table, a figure, an algorithm, a list of disorders, or a combination of these. This book is a cohesive and authoritative work covering the fast-growing field of inborn errors of metabolism. In their preface, the editors refer readers to the latest edition of Molecular and Metabolic Bases of Inherited Disease for more detailed information. The latter book is the primary reference work in this field, but Inborn Metabolic Diseases is in many ways complementary. Clinicians working in the field, as well as those who see patients with inborn errors of metabolism less frequently, will find this book a companion. It covers briefly but comprehensively disorders of carbohydrate, amino acid, and mitochondrial energy metabolism, as well as disorders of neurotransmitters, lipids, nucleic acid and heme metabolism, and metal transport and disorders related to organelles. Inborn errors of metabolism (IEM) are individually rare, but collectively numerous.