How complete is Medium Robbins for Renal?

[Shadowmoses]

I have no intention of using Big Robbins (hopefully) because I feel my histo/biochem/physio is pretty decent, but a friend pointed me to some books other books, and specifically I noticed

http://www.amazon.com/Renal-Pathoph...Rennke/dp/0781799953/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I'm wondering if anyone can comment on the book or can compare this to medium Robbins. The reviews on Amazon seem favorable, but they aren't detailed enough, and they don't compare it to Robbins or Costanzo, so I am not too sure how this book stacks up against those 2 books.

Any feedback?

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[NotAsking4Much]

Used that book. The acid/base part of the book is fantastic. I think for many med students, learning all the different compensatory mechanisms can be quite daunting and I think the book does a good job of covering it. Better than Costanzo (which I find quite weak on the subject). Also, it does a good job of tying in physio.

For the path (like all the nephrotic and nephritic), I think it can get a bit overly detailed. If you are the Robbins type of person who needs to know every single mechanism and detail, then it's great. If you're not, then you can probably cover the material much faster through some other means.

Regardless, I recommend it. It's a good read and you can finish it in ~3 days if you spend time on it.

 

[Shadowmoses]

Thanks, I'll pick it up then. Do you recommend any other pathyphys type books which would be clearer than Robbins?

 

[CBG23]

I used Big Robbins ONLY for the intro section on glomerular pathology of the renal chapter because I thought it was a good overview. I used medium Robbins (Robbins Basic Pathology) for the rest of renal path. For pathophysiology, I read the relevant parts of Costanzo's Renal and Acid/Base chapters. They cover electrolytes (hypo-/hyper- natremia, kalemia, calcemia, etc.), BP control, and Acid/Base disorders fairly well.

 

[JackShephard MD]

I have electronic access to big Robbins.

Do you think medium Robbins is worth using for path if you already have big Robbins? I.e. is it easier to work through the condensed version without losing any vital info.

 

[CBG23]

I have electronic access to big Robbins.

Do you think medium Robbins is worth using for path if you already have big Robbins? I.e. is it easier to work through the condensed version without losing any vital info.

Yes. For 99% of the material, Medium Robbins is more than enough. I only used Big Robbins for a few things - off the top of my head, the intro section on glomerular diseases, the section on inflammatory diseases of the bowel/ celiac disease (Big Robbins goes into more detail on possible pathogenesis here - not relevant for exam purposes, just wanted to know for myself), the overview on vascilitis (there is a good summary figure), and the breast path section (good overview figure). IMO, medium Robbins is only weak on skin path and doesn't have an ophtho section, so I would look elsewhere to learn these two low yield topics - I stuck to lecture notes for these two.