Dr Smoller has accomplished a concise book that contains much of the current knowledge on practical immunohistochemistry applied to skin pathology.
The book is organized in an introduction, a directory of antibodies, and a series of vignettes. The introduction has a short overview on how and when immunohistochemistry should be performed. Dr Smoller indicates some very important points in this overview, eg, the need of supervision by a qualified physician such as a surgical pathologist or a dermatopathologist. Interpretation of immunohistochemical slides requires correlation with external and internal controls, and with clinical information. Dr Smoller stresses the fact that immunohistochemistry by itself cannot establish a diagnosis of malignancy or benignity in a specimen. The introduction also contains a very informative description of immunohistochemistry that includes methodology and a discussion of possible pitfalls in the interpretation of immunohistochemical slides, such as the distinction of cytoplasmic vs nuclear expression depending on the particular antibody.