Preface to the Twenty-First Edition

In the year 1979, esteemed Dr. P.J. Mehta published the First edition of “Practical Medicine for Students and Practitioners”. The book has stood the test of time through over nearly 40 years and 20 earlier editions.It is with great pride that we present the twenty-first edition of P.J. Mehta’s Practical Medicine. We would like to acknowledge the guidance and contribution of the earlier editors of the book. Keeping up with the constant advances in the field of medicine, this edition has many changes. This book still emphasizes the importance of analysis of symptoms and signs and formation of a differential diagnosis before going on to interpretation of various investigations.

Nearly all the chapters of the book have been updated. The book is in an attractive and user friendly four colour format and is accompanied by various visual aids to help students and practitioners to understand the subject of Medicine better. Several new photographs have been added and figures, charts and tables have been updated throughout the book. Images of digital X-rays, E.C.G.s, Echocardiography images various other investigation modalities have included. Chapters of Abdominal system, Respiratory system, Cardiovascular system and Central Nervous system have been updated as per latest guidelines.

We are extremely grateful to our team of contributors, Dr. Hardik Shah, Dr. Sunita Iyer and Dr. Amit Saraf who have worked for hours on end to ensure that the book lives up to the earlier editions. We are also grateful to Dr. Nikesh Jain and Dr. Rajiv Shah for their contribution to the earlier editions.

We would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Bharat Parekh and the Dept. of Imaging, Holy Spirit Hospital, Andheri (E), Mumbai and late Dr. Suren Kothari for allowing us to use their X-rays, Dr. Sharad Shah for the ERCP pictures and Dr. Ami Shah for the Radiology line drawings.

We are grateful to Dr. Neha Kothari (Mehta), Mrs. Ayesha S. Mehta, Mrs. Labdhi N. Mehta, Mrs. Shilpa S. Joshi and Dr. Deepti Ghia for all their encouragement. They have as usual played an important role in bringing out this book. We would like to express our appreciation to Mr. Harshanandan Trivedi of Urvi Compugraphics, Mr. Anup Sheth of Chandulal & Co.

We also would like to express our deep appreciation to Late Mr. P.S. Shah, Mr. Raju Shah and Ms. Vaidehi Shah of The National Book Depot.

Lastly, we thank all our students, teachers, friends and critics who have given constructive feedback to improve this book. We are delighted with the enthusiastic response received for the preceding editions and hope that this edition, too, lives up to the expectations.

We look forward to any further feedback via email or post.