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Preface
The
eleventh edition of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology
is a new book in two important ways. First, the addition of
new Associate Editors to the editorial group has increased
currency, depth, and breadth of coverage; second, conversion
to fullcolor style has increased the clarity of presentation
and total information content. At the same time, the overall
organization has been improved and the educational content of
previous editions has been expanded.
As
in prior editions, the book is designed to provide a
comprehensive, authoritative, and readable pharmacology
textbook for students in the health sciences. Frequent
revision is necessary to keep pace with the rapid changes in
pharmacology and therapeutics; the 2–3 year revision cycle
of the printed text is among the best in the field and the
availability of an online version provides even greater
currency. In addition to the full-color illustrations, other
new features have been introduced. The Case Study at the
beginning of chapters and the Drug Summary Table at the end of
chapters will make the learning process even more interesting
and efficient. The book also offers special features that make
it a useful reference for house officers and practicing
clinicians.
Information
is organized according to the sequence used in many
pharmacology courses and in integrated curricula: basic
principles; autonomic drugs; cardiovascular-renal drugs; drugs
with important actions on smooth muscle; central nervous
system drugs; drugs used to treat inflammation, gout, and
diseases of the blood; endocrine drugs; chemotherapeutic
drugs; toxicology; and special topics. This sequence builds
new information on a foundation of information already
assimilated. For example, early presentation of autonomic
nervous system pharmacology allows students to integrate the
physiology and neuroscience they have learned elsewhere with
the pharmacology they are learning and prepares them to
understand the autonomic effects of other drugs. This is
especially important for the cardiovascular and central
nervous system drug groups. However, chapters can be used
equally well in courses and curricula that present these
topics in a different sequence.
Within
each chapter, emphasis is placed on discussion of drug groups
and prototypes rather than offering repetitive detail about
individual drugs. Selection of the subject matter and the
order of its presentation are based on the accumulated
experience of teaching this material to thousands of medical,
pharmacy, dental, podiatry, nursing, and other health science
students.
Major
features that make this book particularly useful in integrated
curricula include sections that specifically address the
clinical choice and use of drugs in patients and the
monitoring of their effects—in other words, clinical
pharmacology is an integral part of this text. Lists of
the commercial preparations available, including trade and
generic names and dosage formulations, are provided at the end
of each chapter for easy reference by the house officer or
practitioner writing a chart order or prescription.
Significant revisions in this edition include:
A
Case Study is used to open many chapters, providing an
introduction to the clinical applications of the drugs
discussed. Explicit answers are provided at the end of some
chapters but discussion of the concepts involved will be found
in the text of all chapters.
A
Drug Summary Table is placed at the conclusion of most
chapters; these provide a concise recapitulation of the most
important drugs
Many
new illustrations in full color provide significantly more
information about drug mechanisms and effects and help to
clarify important concepts
Major
revisions of the chapters on sympathomimetic, sympathoplegic,
antipsychotic, antidepressant, antidiabetic,
anti-inflammatory, and antiviral drugs, prostaglandins, nitric
oxide, hypothalamic and pituitary hormones, and
immunopharmacology
Continued
expansion of the coverage of general concepts relating to
newly discovered receptors, receptor mechanisms, and drug
transporters
Descriptions
of important new drugs released through December 2008,
including numerous new immunopharmacologic
agents
An
important related educational resource is Katzung &
Trevor's Pharmacology: Examination & Board Review,
eighth edition (Trevor AJ, Katzung BG, & Masters SB:
McGraw-Hill, 2008). This book provides a succinct review of
pharmacology with over one thousand sample examination
questions and answers. It is especially helpful to students
preparing for board-type examinations. A more highly condensed
source of information suitable for review purposes is USMLE
Road Map: Pharmacology, second edition (Katzung BG, Trevor
AJ: McGraw-Hill, 2006).
This
edition marks the 27th year of publication of Basic &
Clinical Pharmacology. The widespread adoption of the
first ten editions indicates that this book fills an important
need. We believe that the eleventh edition will satisfy this
need even more successfully. Spanish, Portuguese, Italian,
French, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, and Turkish translations
are available. Translations into other languages are under
way; the publisher may be contacted for further information.
I
wish to acknowledge the prior and continuing efforts of my
contributing authors and the major contributions of the staff
at Lange Medical Publications, Appleton & Lange, and more
recently at McGraw-Hill, and of our editors, Alison Kelley and
Donna Frassetto. I also wish to thank my wife, Alice Camp, for
her expert proofreading contributions since the first edition.
Special
thanks and recognition are due James Ransom, PhD, the
long-time Senior Editor at Lange Medical Publications, who
provided major inspiration and invaluable guidance through the
first eight editions of the book. Without him, this book would
not exist.
Suggestions
and comments about Basic & Clinical Pharmacology
are always welcome. They may be sent to me at the Department
of Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology, P.O. Box 0450,
University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-0450.
Bertram
G. Katzung, MD, PhD
San Francisco
February, 2009
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