Assessment of Urinary Sediment by Electron Microscopy: Applications in Renal Disease

Anil K. Mandai, M.D., is one of the trailblazers in the use of the transmission electron microscope in the study of the urinary sediment. In this book, he reviews his extensive efforts to tie his vast clinical expe- rience to his elegant basic research with the electron microscope. The pictures are comprehensive, and the clinical correlates are nicely outlined in tables and text. It may astonish some readers that a book for fellows and clinical nephrol- ogists has been written on the use of the transmission electron microscope in the study of urine. Some may view this as a sophisticated research instrument. I, however, applaud the effort. So many discoveries and advances in basic science lie unutilized because clinicians are not aware of the tools available or have little instruction in their use. Maybe that is the reason why so many tests have come and gone, have been found useless and dropped, or have simply been abandoned after being judged too complicated-some because they were, others because they were never applied and interpreted properly. The whole field of research seems to be pulling ahead and away from clinical medicine. Therefore, an effort like this one, which rapidly and clearly tries to introduce an advanced research examination technique into clinical medicine, is worthy of admiration and sup- port.