Book Review July 15, 2010

Clinical Manual of Drug Interaction: Principles for Medical Practice

David L. Dunner, MD

J Clin Psychiatry 2010;71(7):962-963

Article Abstract

From our regular book review column.

 

Clinical Manual of Drug Interaction: Principles for Medical Practice

by Gary H. Wynn, MD; Jessica R. Oesterheld, MD; Kelly L. Cozza, MD; and Scott C. Armstrong, MD. American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc, Arlington, VA, 2009, 594 pages, $59.00 (paper).

Drug interactions are a very important consideration in clinical practice. This volume is divided into 4 sections: Basic Pharmacology, P450 Enzymes, Drug Interactions by Medical Specialty (includes gynecology, internal medicine, infectious diseases, neurology, oncology, pain management, psychiatry, and transplant surgery/rheumatology), and Practical Matters (includes medicolegal implications and how to retrieve and review the literature). It is a multiauthored text and reasonably up-to-date (chapters for a 2009 publication are generally written in 2008). The material is well presented, and there are illuminating case reports. The referencing is excellent, and the index is useful. The issue of P-glycoproteins is well covered.

I read the introduction, the section on P450 enzymes, the section on drug interactions in psychiatry, and the last section. The material was presented in a concise manner, and I learned some facts that would likely be useful for me in my clinical practice.

However, I came away with the concern that use of a textbook on this material is not sufficient to keep current with drug interactions as compared with Internet use. This book has great value more as a basic primer of drug interactions than as a text to review the potential for a drug interaction regarding a medication you wish to prescribe.

David L. Dunner, MD

[email protected]

Author affiliation: University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle. Potential conflicts of interest: In the past year, Dr Dunner has received grant support from Cyberonics and Neuronetics (owns a Neurostar device to treat patients with rTMS); has been a consultant/advisory board member for Eli Lilly, Wyeth, and Sanofi Aventis; and has been on the speakers bureaus of Pfizer, Wyeth, Neuronetics, AstraZeneca, and Janssen.