This is a very useful text. At first glance it appears somewhat dry, but is easy to read and very relevant to ultrasound practice in the emergency department.

The section on “fundamentals of ultrasound”, covering physics and common artefacts, is somewhat brief and may not be extensive enough for beginners in the technique.

There are useful sections on the history and politics of emergency ultrasound and advice on introducing ultrasound, and although this section is clearly based on the US hospital system, it does highlight some important issues.

Each clinical chapter clearly defines the clinical applications of the technique and there is a discussion of the use of ultrasound in clinical decision making, with clinical case scenarios given as examples. All the primary indications of emergency ultrasound are covered.

The book has copious illustrations and clear diagrams on anatomy, although the reader would benefit from some more diagrammatic interpretations of the ultrasound pictures. Considerable attention is paid to atypical appearances and pitfalls in each chapter.

The chapter on procedure guidance covers vascular access (both central and peripheral) in detail. There is also information on aspiration of various joints and body cavities under ultrasound guidance, rather than blind techniques as practised at present. Information on abscess and foreign body detection is given.

We think this will be a useful text for the practitioner with basic ultrasound skills, although the beginner may be better off starting with one of the smaller introductory texts.