Festa JR, Lazar RM, eds. Neurovascular Neuropsychology. Springer 2009, 315 pages, 46 illustrations $79.95.

Neuroradiologists, by and large, deal with structural and physiologic alterations of the brain tissue in neurovascular disease.  This book, edited by Drs. Festa and Lazar with contributions from 39 others, allows one to read about the psychological and neurologic disturbances in the many vascular abnormalities involving the CNS.  As is evident in the book, there is an attempt to show that more occurs in a patient who has suffered from neurovascular insult than oft noted isolated defects such as dysarthria, hemiparesis, etc.  More profound changes occur.  Note is made that there is no radiologist such as the co-author of any chapter despite the presence of a significant amount of neuroimaging.  While clearly this book was not intended to describe metrics neuroradiologists use to determine salvageable and nonsalvageable brain tissue, it would seem that one chapter could have been devoted to such descriptions.

The nineteen chapters cover the neuropsychologic effect on many important areas such as ischemia/hemorrhagic stroke, aneurysms/SAH, vascular dementia, CADASIL/MELAS, vascular occlusion/stenosis, and the effect of diseases such as congestive heart failure, lung disease, collagen vascular disease, diabetes, etc. on the mental state.  Final chapters address functional imaging, pharmacology and neuropsychological rehabilitation.

From an imaging perspective there is little to learn here.  However for those interested in the many clinical correlations and syndromes associated with neurovascular disease the book may be of interest.