Logical and accurate interpretation of clinical information is not only important to pass examinations but also necessary for management of patient. It is an important and easy tool for quick and objective evaluation of knowledge and competence of a physician. Hence, most modern examination systems have incorporated this technique. The first edition of this book was published with the intention of helping students learn the basics of data interpretation and practice by themselves. Its huge popularity and wide acceptance among students has encouraged me to upgrade the book and bring out this new edition.

All chapters of the previous edition have been fully revised to eradicate the mistakes and flaws. One hundred more new clinical cases have been added. I have tried to bring variety in clinical set-up and the amount of data provided in each set-up, so that students can learn to approach a problem from different points of view. In addition, I have included data on cardiac catheterization and a whole new chapter on pictorial diagnosis, which contains 100 clinical pictures. I have also tried to modify the book according to various helpful suggestions made by teachers and students. I hope this new edition will be even more helpful for the students to learn and practice data interpretation.

I would like to invite constructive criticism and suggestions regarding this book from my readers, students, colleagues and doctors which would help me improve it further.

I would also like to acknowledge gratefully all the books and publications which I have consulted to gather information while writing this book.

I must apologize for any printing mistakes in this book.

Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my wife and children for their untiring support, sacrifice and encouragement in preparing such a book of its kind.

Finally, I wish every success of my readers in all aspects of life.

One must remember that specific answer is required, and if there are multiple possibilities, the best one should be mentioned. Answer must be precise and specific, vague one should be avoided.

In this book, I have prepared many long and short questions with proper investigations, largely based on the real cases. Answers are given with brief short notes of the specific problems, so that the candidate may get some idea without going through a big textbook.

Questions are fun to do and answers are instructive. I hope, postgraduate students and other equivalent doctors will find this book a very useful one and will enjoy the questions. I do not claim that this book is adequate for the whole clinical medicine and one must consult standard textbook.

I would invite and appreciate the constructive criticism and good suggestions from the valued readers.

I must apologize for the printing mistakes, which, in spite of my best effort, have shown their ugly face. I gratefully acknowledge the publications and books, from where many information have been taken and included.

I am always grateful and thankful to all my students who were repeatedly demanding and encouraged me for writing such a book.

I am grateful to Kh Atikur Rahman (Shamim), Md Oliullah and Mr Biswanath Bhattacharjee (Kazal) for their great help in computer composing and graphic designing which made the book a beautiful and attractive one.

My special thanks to Mr Saiful Islam Khan, proprietor and other staffs of “Asian Colour Printing” whose hard work and co-operation have made almost “painless delivery” of this book.

Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my wife and children for their untiring support, sacrifice and encouragement in preparing such a book of its kind.

I would like to express my humble respect and gratefulness to Prof Pran Gopal Datta, MBBS, MCPS, ACORL (Odessa), PhD (Kiev), MSc in Audiology (UK), FCPS, FRCS (Glasgow), Vice Chancellor, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, whose valuable suggestions, continuous encouragement and support helped me to prepare this book.

I am also highly grateful to Dr Ahmed-Al-Muntasir-Niloy, who has worked hard checking the whole manuscript and making necessary corrections and modifications.

I also acknowledge the contribution of the following-my teachers, colleagues, doctors and students, who helped me by providing pictures, advice, corrections and many new clinical problems:

My special thanks to Shri Jitendar P Vij (Chairman and Managing Director), Mr Tarun Duneja (Director-Publishing), Mr KK Raman (Production Manager), Mr Sunil Dogra, Mr Gopal Sharma, Mr Lalit Sharma, Mr Sanjay Chauhan and Ms Samina Khan of M/s Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) Ltd, who have worked tirelessly for the timely publication of this book.