Yousem DM, Grossman RI, eds. The Requisites: Neuroradiology. MOSBY 2010, 704 pages, $99.00.
The remarkable success of The Requisites: Neuroradiology (1st and 2nd editions) is well justified. Each in its time was generally recognized as the best source for learning and refreshing one’s knowledge in Neuroradiology. Now we have a 3rd edition, published this year (2010), with David Yousem switching places with Bob Grossman in their editorship roles.
When comparing this 3rd edition to the 2nd edition published 7 years ago, one is immediately struck by a number if things: the book is lighter, the font is smaller, the paper is of different stock. The number of pages is less (619 vs 908-only in part due to the smaller font size). As I began to leaf through the book, one of my thoughts was that I hoped the humor was not extracted. The original idea to instill humor, witicisms, limericks, etc was a break from the traditional way of presenting material and it kept one’s interest high. Maybe everyone didn’t like it, but I did. More about that later in this review.
The chapters are titled the same as the prior edition — 18 chapters in all. Remarkably this text is written in nearly its totality by Drs. Yousem and Grossman — a wide departure from most Radiology texts where the number of contributing authors is often triple the number of chapters. The one departure from this sole authorship by Yousem and Grossman is that in this edition of The Requisites, Robert D. Zimmerman has authored the chapter on Vascular Diseases of the Brain. As one might expect this 66-page chapter varies significantly from the similarly titled chapter in the 2nd edition, not only because of a change in authorship but because of the evolution in techniques, perfusion techniques in CT and MR in particular, which have matured over the past 7 years. This material bears study no matter the stage of one’s education or experience.
The other chapters are as follows: “Techniques in Neuroradiology”, “Cranial Anatomy”, “Neoplasms of the Brain”, “Head Trauma”, “Infectious/Inflammatory Disease of the Brain”, “White Matter Diseases Neurodegenerative Disease and Hydrocephalus”, “Congenital Disorders of the Spine and Brain”, “Orbit, Sella and Central Skull Base”, “Temporal Bone”, “Senonasal Disease”, “Mucosal Disease of the Head and Neck”, “Extramucosal Disease of the Head and Neck Anatomy and Degenerative Disease of the Spine”, “Approaches and Pitfalls in Neuroradiology”. What is important to recognize is that all of diagnostic neuroradiology is covered here. That makes the book ideal for all those doing or learning neuroradiology.
New images have been added, more discussion of evolving techniques are included but in many places there is a similar discussion of the diseases (which is natural since the diseases haven’t changed). Much of the book is written in a conversational manner which makes reading more engaging. This is a five-star recommended purchase, but I still miss the abundance of humor.
