This excellent text provides, in the words of the author, "a coherent and easy to assimilate description of the common neurological disorders."
The book covers the essential features of a neurological evaluation and goes into great detail in terms of the history and the clinical examination. The text is presented in an extremely attractive format, which enhances the reader's appreciation of the data. The key points, symptoms, and definitions are highlighted in different colors. The diagrams and clinical photographs are excellent, as are the photographs of histopathological slides and the imaging studies.
The book has fifteen chapters. In the initial chapters, symptoms such as headache, facial pain, loss of consciousness, and coma are presented, followed by a description of the different diagnoses and treatment. These are the most common symptoms that one would expect to see in a patient who has an underlying neurological disease, and Perkin has done an excellent job in identifying their usual causes.
Subsequent chapters cover such topics as cranial nerve dysfunction, vertigo, ataxia, disorders of higher cortical function, cerebrovascular disease, Parkinson disease, tumor, hydrocephalus, multiple sclerosis, and other demyelinating disorders. Infections of the central nervous system, motor neuron disorders, and peripheral nerve disorders are discussed in detail. The chapters on spinal cord disorders and musculoskeletal disorders are brief overviews. The neurological aspects of cancer, the use of psychiatry in the management of patients who have systemic disease, and the relationship between neurology and psychiatry also are discussed.
This book will be useful for individuals at all levels of training and education. As an orthopaedic surgeon, I believe that the text is an excellent synopsis of the clinical findings that should alert the practitioner to the possibility of an underlying neurological disorder. I strongly recommend this book to all practitioners who are likely to see patients who have systemic or musculoskeletal symptoms that may be due to an underlying neurological disease.
Leela Rangaswamy, M.D.
Deputy Editor
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery
Needham, Massachusetts