Book Reviews

Diseases of the Brain, Head and Neck, Spine: Diagnostic Imaging and Interventional Techniques

G.K. Von Schulthess and Ch.L. Zollikofer, eds.

New York, NY: Springer-Verlag, 2004, 200 pages, $99

This collection of 32 seminars presented during the 36th International Diagnostic Course in Davos (IDKD) between March and April 2004 covers diseases of the brain, head and neck, and spine, including neoplasms, vascular disease, degenerative disease, inflammatory disease, trauma, and infection. The first 15 seminars discuss diseases processes, and the remaining 17 seminars are more location specific. IDKD is organized by a German radiology foundation, and most of the authors are radiologists, neuroradiologists, or neurosurgeons. As stated in the preface, the intended audience is imaging specialists in training or in related disciplines.

The contents of the presentations are generally good, with some variations. For instance, the chapter on hemorrhagic cerebral vascular disease is a tabulation that only lists the various processes without discussing them. Although the presentation of this topic during the conference obviously must have included a verbal discussion, the lack of such a discussion in the chapter results in only a notebook format for that chapter. In contrast, another chapter—on imaging of patients with seizures—includes multiple MR images and some updated references. The book has several obvious typographic errors, such as that in the listing of the seventh chapter in the table of contents. However, these shortcomings do not diminish the breadth and depth of the discussion on the pathology and physiology of the head, neck, and spine.

The quality of the graphics is generally quite good, with discernible MR images, but the descriptions of the imaging parameters need to be somewhat more specific.

Overall, this collection of seminars provides adequate and up-to-date coverage of pathology from the neuroradiologist’s point of view. It may also aid neurosurgery clinicians and otolaryngologists in understanding what they see on images obtained using modern CT and MRI technology. However, from the viewpoint of nuclear medicine specialists, what is lacking is a correlation with nuclear medicine, especially with the important emerging techniques PET and SPECT. No mention is made of nuclear technology, which led to multiple pioneering findings in brain physiology and pathology and in general oncology long before functional MRI emerged. As nuclear technology continues to make strides in the imaging and management of disease, such a correlation between the functional and the anatomic is highly desirable. Therefore, this book is of only limited use for the nuclear medicine community. Perhaps the lack of such a correlation in this book speaks to the need for another book to do just that—correlate anatomic and functional aspects of diseases in the brain, head and neck, and spine.