Naidich TP, Castillo M, Cha S, Smirniotopoulos, eds. Imaging of the Brain. Expert Radiology Series. Elsevier Saunders; 2013; 1072 pgs; $315.
There are numerous educational resources available in every radiology subspecialty. They appear on society and academic websites, in journals designed both for original research and review articles, on commercial websites, and, of course, in textbooks. In the latter category, for brain imaging, Osborn’s Brain: Imaging, Pathology, and Anatomy and Diagnostic Imaging: Brain have been the two textbooks that are frequently used as source material. Enter now (published in 2012) the new book Imaging of the Brain, edited by well-known authorities in neuroradiology, Drs. Naidich, Castillo, Cha, and Smirniotopoulos; it is superb in its concept and execution, classic in its writing, and unsurpassed in the depth of detail, as concerns brain anatomy. As one reads through the book, one feels the strong influence and guidance that the senior editor, Dr. Naidich, has had on the end product—thorough, detailed, and beautifully illustrated.
Eighty authors, including the editors, have contributed to the thirteen separate sections: Techniques; Image and Pattern Analysis; Scalp, Skull, and Meninges; Normal Brain Anatomy (supra and infratentorial); Cerebrovascular Anatomy and Disease; Craniocerebral Trauma; Cysts and Tumors; The Phakomatoses; Infection and Inflammation; Aging and Degeneration; Toxic and Metabolic Conditions; Hydrocephalus; Epilepsy. Some of this material can be found only by going to the website (expertconsult.inkling.com) rather than the website shown on the inside cover of the book. Examples of this are in Chapters 48 and 49, where the material and full description is contained in Classical Concepts of Hydrocephalus and on Emerging Concepts of CSF Physiology and Communicating Hydrocephalus, available online only. The same applies to Chapter 6 (Scalp) and Chapter 7 (Skull). Here, for example, in the Skull, one reads of anatomy imaging, reads how pathology alters this normal appearance, sees a series of images (skull films, CTs, MRs), and finally, reads the analyses of these types of abnormalities. Other material found online only includes Intracranial Cysts and Cyst-like Lesions; Neuroepithelial Cysts, Porencephaly and Perivascular Spaces; Neurotoxicity Associated with Pediatric Malignancies; Neurodegeneration: Cerebrum; and Neurodegeneration: Cerebellum and Brain Stem.
As the readers of this review might expect, because of Dr. Naidich’s lead editorial role, the book is heavy on detailed neuroanatomy. I count 241 pages that fit into this category; the material is encyclopedic in nature. This is not accomplished at the expense of describing and illustrating pathological conditions of the brain. The images selected for the book are crisp and state-of-the-art. Many diagrams, tables, and gross/histological material make the educational content of the book even more compelling.
To single out one chapter for comment, attention is drawn to the chapter on White Matter anatomy. Attention to this chapter is warranted to point out how complete this material is and how, in this reviewer’s mind, it exemplifies the quality in other portions of the book. Hereafter, basic definitions are stated (eg, commissural, association, heterotopic projections, striae), and the reader is taken from there to the major considerations of the pertinent anatomy. This is important material for any neuroradiologist, but in particular for those who are engaged in functional MR (activation studies). The description of the physiological nature of each of the tracts is precise and particularly well illustrated.
The bigger concept (and I can say the same for the deep gray matter chapter) is that the material takes the reader beyond simply what is needed to understand the imaging we see daily. It can serve to satisfy one’s deeper curiosity about what the anatomy means in terms of function. For example, is it important that we know the relationship of the internal capsule to the deep gray matter nuclei of non-human animals? Certainly not; but it is interesting, surely, yes. This small example (there are many others of course) speaks to the intellectual depths of the book and the efforts put into its construction.
It is often of value to compare between textbooks and determine how differently (or perhaps similarly) a given subject is dealt with. Using Parkinson disease as an example, one has to go online to retrieve the information from this book’s website because it does not appear in the print version. Once there, the reader can read a description of the disease and its imaging, which, unfortunately, concentrates to a great degree on PET/SPECT. In this respect, and for this particular disease, Osborn’s Brain and Diagnostic Imaging would be of greater value and interest. A similar observation is made relative to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, where the imaging is less robust and shows fewer features than in the aforementioned books. But in many other subjects, particularly in terms of detailed anatomy and the depths of education in connectivity and neurophysiologic considerations, the book under review here is marvelous. Like any huge subject, such as brain imaging, different resources have different strengths.
In this reviewer’s opinion, the text Imaging of the Brain is an extremely important publication and should be part of every neuroradiologist’s library.
Update 5/5/2014: An earlier version of this review mistakenly listed the copyright date as 2012. The citation has been updated to show the correct date.
