The
thirteenth edition of Basic &
Clinical Pharmacology continues the
important changes inaugurated in the eleventh edition, with extensive
use of full-color illustrations and expanded coverage of transporters, pharmacogenomics, and new drugs. Case
studies accompany most chapters
and answers to questions posed
in the case studies appear at the
end of each chapter. 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 shortest in the field and the availability
of an online version provides even greater currency. 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 prin- ciples; 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 inte- grate
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 teach- ing this material to thousands of
medical, pharmacy, dental, podiatry, nursing,
and other health
science students.
Major features
that make this book particularly useful in inte-
grated curricula include sections that
specifically address the clini- cal
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 trade and
generic names of commercial preparations available 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
•
Addition of a chapter
on pharmacogenomics, an area of increasing importance in all aspects of pharmacology. The drug
• development
and regulation material previously covered in
Chapter 5 has been incorporated into Chapter 1.
•
A generic
name–trade name table
appears at the conclusion of most chapters, providing a rapid reference for these names.
•
Many revised
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, diuretic, antipsychotic, antidepressant, antidiabetic,
anti-inflammatory, and antiviral
drugs, prostaglandins, nitric
oxide, hypothalamic and pituitary hormones, central nervous
system neurotrans- mitters, immunopharmacology, and toxicology.
•
Continued
expansion of the coverage of general concepts relat- ing to newly discovered receptors, receptor mechanisms,
and drug transporters.
•
Descriptions of important new drugs released
through August 2014.
An important related educational resource is Katzung & Trevor’s Pharmacology:
Examination & Board Review, tenth edition (Trevor AJ, Katzung BG, & Masters SB: McGraw-Hill, 2013). This book provides a succinct review of pharmacology with
approximately one thousand sample
examination questions and answers. It is especially helpful to students preparing
for board-type examina- tions. 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 32th year of publication of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology. The widespread adoption
of the first twelve editions indicates that this book fills
an important need. We believe that the thirteenth edition will satisfy
this need even more successfully.
Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, and Ukrainian translations are avail- able. Translations into other languages
are under way; the pub- lisher 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 McGraw-Hill, and of our editors for this
edition, Donna Frassetto and Rachel D’Annucci
Henriquez. I also wish to thank Alice Camp and
Katharine Katzung for their expert proofreading contributions.
Suggestions and comments about Basic & Clinical Pharmacology are always welcome. They may be sent to me in care of the publisher.
