Abstract
Stroke is one of the most frequent diseases in humans leading to death and invalidism all over the world. This book addresses the possibilities in diagnostics and therapy of the wealthy communities with wide access to modern equipment, probably so far of lesser interest in the undeveloped countries.
In addition to the editors the list of contributors counts 182 doctors, and of those only 11 radiologists. The book is divided into six sections with 79 chapters. The index is comprehensive with detailed information over 38 pages.
The sections are as follows: Pathophysiology, Epidemiology and Prevention, Clinical Manifestations, Specific Medical Diseases and Stroke, Diagnostic Studies, and Therapy.
Being a neuroradiologist it is overwhelming to experience the extension of knowledge within this field presented in this book. It is certainly a valuable book to have in any radiological department having the opportunity to find and refresh ones knowledge in pathophysiology, clinical manifestations and more. The well chosen headings of each chapter and the multitude of themes divided in chapters make the book ideal in searching for special stroke topics. The most interesting parts for a radiologist are probably sections 5 and 6, Part B. These chapters contain general information on vascular malformations in addition to the stroke these conditions might cause. Following each chapter every contributor delivers a huge list of references, some more than 500. Thus this book offers a wide source of additional specific information as well.
Radiological images do not appear before Section 3, Clinical Manifestations, chapter 22. Generally the radiological images in this part are of relatively poor quality, many of them obviously produced many years ago, some of them possibly from the early ages of CT. Most of the figures in chapters 22–27 and in some other parts should have been exchanged with images produced with modern equipment. In the later chapters the radiological images are mostly of high quality, and sometimes excellent.
The organization of the chapters is very good and gives the reader an excellent overview of the content. Regrettably not all authors have written a summary/conclusion of their presentation. The exceptions are found in Section 6, Therapy, where a conclusion or summary usually appears at the end of each chapter.
This book is a ‘brick’ of almost 4 kg. Consequently it is not a book that you carry around in your department, but for those with special interests in all aspects of stroke this book is highly recommended.