Dr. Yochum Honored by Students at U. of Colorado School of Medicine
http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/19/17/09.html
Yes, Dr. Yochum has authored a milestone radiology test. It is required reading at all chiropractic schools, and at over 100 medical schools.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3841/is_200407/ai_n9420835
Less than two decades ago, no major medical publishing house would publish a textbook on chiropractic written by a chiropractor-such texts were virtually all self-published. In January of 1987, that changed when Williams & Wilkins (now Lippincott, Williams, & Wilkins) released Essentials of Skeletal Radiology by chiropractic radiologists Terry R. Yochum, DC, DACBR, and Lindsay J. Rowe, DC, DACBR. Williams and WHkins' initial, print run of 5,000 copies soLd out in 3 weeks-a record that's never been broken. The book went through 6 printings in its first year alone, another still-unbroken record for the publisher. "They later told me that if the book had sold 5,000 copies within 5 to 7 years-the life of the first edition-they would have considered it a huge success," says Dr. Yochum.
That text, which became required reading at every chiropractic college and a reference text at some 100 medical, schools, eventually sold 45,000 copies in its first edition. The second edition, published in 1996, has soLd over 30,000 copies. (Most second editions generate less than 25% of the first edition's sales.) This month, Essentials of Skeletal Radiology's third edition arrives in a completely different environment for chiropractic publishing than what existed in 1980, when an innovative Williams & Wilkins chief editor approached Dr. Yochum with a book idea.
Toni Tracy, then the vice president in charge of medical publishing at Williams & Wilkins, had read Dr. Yochum's monthly "radiology corner" in JACA. She decided he might be the person to write the first scholarly text in chiropractic that the profession needed-and would buy. Taken by surprise, Dr. Yochurn, an instructor in skeletal radiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine since 1991, recalls that he "sat on the letter for a couple of months before writing her back" and agreeing to the proposal. He prepared a table of contents and suggested illustrations, including sample chapters. He submitted them to Williams and Wilkins-and waited.
Normally, a medical publisher takes about 90 days to review a proposal and respond. But since both Dr. Yochum and the entire chiropractic profession were unknown factors for the publisher, the process took 2 years. "Toni Tracy believed it would work, but they didn't want to take a chance on chiropractic without thoroughly checking it out. The publisher also thought it might be a detriment to their medical sales," says Dr. Yochum. "We jumped through a lot of hoops. They checked things out through the colleges and their presidents, along with the ACA. It almost didn't happen." But at the Radiological Society of North America's (RSNA) annual meeting in November 1982, the publisher finally offered Dr. Yochum the contract. he subsequently invited his ex-student and resident Dr. Rowe to join him in writing the book.
In 1983, Dr. Yochum returned from teaching in Melbourne, Australia, and spent the next several years writing on 10,000 pages of yellow legalsized pads-all by hand. This work converted to 5,000 pages of computer printouts. "It took me 5 years to write it, one full year to proofread it, and it took my secretary 4 1/2 years to type the manuscript," Dr. Yochum says. Ultimately, those 6 years of work paid off, not only for Dr. Yochum and Williams & Wilkins, but also for chiropractic publishing as a whole. Williams & Wilkins went on to publish many other books on chiropractic. Other leading medical publishers, including Mosby, Appleton and Lange, Aspen, W.B. Saunders, and Churchill Livingstone, quickly followed their lead.
Every chapter of this seminal text has been updated for the third edition. An entirely new chapter, not included in the first or second editions, addresses what Dr. Yochum calls the "masqueraders of musculoskeletal disease." "This chapter looks at the clinical and imaging features of disorders of the head and soft tissues of the neck, chest, and abdomen that can mimic musculoskeletal complaints," Dr. Yochum says. "These include the most common extraosseous conditions likely to present to chiropractors, such as brain aneurysms or tumors, diseases of the gall bladder and pancreas, abdominal aortic aneurysms, and other conditions that can refer or mimic musculoskeletal signs and symptoms." The chapter on spondylolysis/spondylolisthesis, a particular specialty area of Dr. Yochum's, also features extensive new information, including a step-by-step algorithmic clinical decision-making pathway. Also new is a complimentary CD with 3-dimensional anatomic models of the human body and short videos demonstrating how to conduct various orthopedic and neurological tests.
What's on the horizon for skeletal radiology? The movement to digital imaging, without the need for film and darkrooms, will change things radically for many chiropractors, Dr. Yochum predicts. "Digital radiography will be the wave of the future. It will eliminate darkrooms, the need to store film and chemicals, and all the manpower involved," he says. "Cost has kept digital imaging out of the private marketplace, but the practical and cost-effective digital x-ray facilities that should be available soon will move digital imaging more into the private marketplace." Advantages of more widespread availability of this new technology will include the ability to do consultations by sending images over the Internet, saving time and expediting diagnoses.
In his foreword to the third edition, worldrenowned radiologist and author Donald Resnick, MD, professor of radiology at the University of California/San Diego and chief of osteoradiology at the VA Medical Center/San Diego, praises Essentials of Skeletal Radiology as "a text that will bring ample reward to the reader, providing him or her with information that will ensure a more complete understanding of the disease process and the ability to provide correct diagnoses in a more timely fashion. The result will be improved patient care, something we all desire."
