Neuropathology and Neuroradiology a Review

Abstract

The authors provide a brief and incomplete review of neuropathology and neuroradiology. The book is divided into 32 chapters: General Neuropathology, Glial Cell Response to Injury, Nervous System Development, Developmental Pathology, Perinatal Brain Injuries, Infectious Diseases, Infectious Pathogens, Oncology, Differential Diagnosis by Location, Phakomatoses, Intoxication and Drugs, Chemotherapy, Metal Toxicities, Vitamin Deficiencies, Acquired Metabolic Diseases, Congenital Metabolic Diseases, Degenerative Diseases, Demyelinating Diseases, Ischemia and Hypoxia, Vascular Diseases, CNS Trauma, Skull Diseases, Developmental Spinal Lesions, Spinal Tumors, Spinal Vascular Diseases, Spinal Infections, Spinal Inflammatory Diseases, Spinal Degenerative Diseases, Spinal Trauma, Peripheral Nerve Disorders, Neuromuscular Junction Diseases, and Muscle Diseases. The organization and presentation of the book involves the integration of the pathologic features and imaging, which is a positive feature of the text. Although separate neuropathology chapters are included, no such chapters exist for neuroradiology. This is a weakness of the book becuase it is supposed to be a review of neuroradiology and should, therefore, include a separate chapter that reviews the current status of neuroimaging techniques and the techniques that are useful in various clinical scenarios. The book is written with a bullet style in which a few important clinical and pathologic features of each entity are cited. It reads as a dictionary would, with lists of diseases and a few important clinical and pathologic features mentioned. Salient radiologic features are generally not discussed. The content of the book reflects the fact that none of the coauthors is a neuroradiologist or radiologist. Although the very basics of neuroradiology are occasionally discussed in certain diseases, recent technological advances in routine clinical use are not covered. For example, in the section dealing with cerebrovascular accidents, there is no mention of the usefulness of diffusion-weighted MR imaging. Likewise, the use of MR angiography in the evaluation of patients with atherosclerosis is not mentioned. There is a paucity of images, and the figure legends are not descriptive enough. The figure legends also contain numerous mistakes. For example, an axial fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) image of the brain is referred to as an “infused T1-weighted MR.” The quality of the images is adequate. The authors use nine texts as references for the entire book. These references are not directly cited in the text, and only two are radiology texts. The content appears to be fairly accurate. I am not aware of a similar book that reviews both neuropathology and neuroradiology. As far as it being a review of neuroradiology, this book is far from comprehensive, and it is not nearly as valuable the review text by Grossman and Yousem, Neuroradiology: The Requisites. Radiology residents, neuroradiology fellows, and, practicing radiologists are much better served by Grossman and Yousem’s text. The teaching value of the present book is limited to individuals who already have a substantial knowledge of the neurosciences and who are in need of a quick, brief review; however, no topic is covered to any great extent. Although this book is not comprehensive, it does provide material that medical students can use in their preparation for board examinations. The book can also be useful to pathologists, neurologists, and neurosurgeons who need a quick review before their board examinations. This book, however, is not well suited for a radiologist or neuroradiologist. Book Reviews