Biousse V, Newman NJ. Neuro-Ophthalmology Illustrated. 2nd ed. Thieme; 2015; 789 pp; $109.99
This is an all-encompassing neuro-ophthalmology textbook containing the entire breadth of diseases encountered in neuro-ophthalmology, such as visual loss, retinal disorders, optic neuropathies, pupillary disorders, diplopia, and cavernous sinus lesions, among others. It is written with neuro-ophthalmologists in mind but has detailed explanations and illustrations of pathologies that neuroradiologists encounter on a daily basis.
This book has 649 pages, 21 chapters, and 2 contributors (Drs. Biousse and Newman). The book has many figures, illustrations, and diagrams, many of which are for the clinicians, such as the funduscopic images, Humphrey visual field tests, and others that are very helpful in understanding disease pathology. For example, the visual fields chapter has great diagrams, showing 11 different visual field defects determined by the site of the lesion; the lesion site is numbered in a very easy-to-follow diagrammatic sketch. There are boxes containing “Pearls”, which are teaching points that are important to know. Throughout the book there are tables that emphasize and summarize certain points discussed in the text, which are very helpful in organizing the information given. In addition, there are radiologic images (both CT and MR) that are pertinent to the pathology being discussed. One can, therefore, have a complete picture of a disease state, which includes the clinical examination, the visual field, and the corresponding neuroimaging.
The first 4 chapters deal with the basics, including the neuro-ophthalmic examination, funduscopic examination, visual fields, and ancillary testing commonly used in neuro-ophthalmology (which includes the Neuroimaging section). The next 17 chapters are devoted to pathology.
There is a section in chapter 4 devoted to imaging of the orbits and visual pathways and which includes both CT and MRI. This section includes tables such as one describing the advantages and disadvantages of CT versus MR, and one that describes the appearances of tissues on computed tomography. The section on MR goes over the basic pulse sequences: T1-weighted images, T1 sequences with fat saturation, T2-weighted images, FLAIR, and diffusion-weighted images. There is also a section in chapter 4 that deals with vascular imaging, including vascular ultrasound, CTA, MRA, and catheter angiography. The sections on vascular imaging provide some nice normal anatomic examples with labeling of normal vessels.
All the chapters dealing with neuro-ophthalmologic diseases include the following subsections: clinical features, causes, evaluation, and treatment. Throughout the chapters dealing with pathology, images (CT or MR) are included. The chapter dealing with diplopia has an excellent review of cranial nerve anatomy, as depicted in diagrams and radiology images. Cranial nerves III, IV, and VI each has a section devoted to causes outlined in tabular form, in addition to a separate listing of pediatric causes of cranial nerve palsies.
The next to the last chapter deals with disorders commonly encountered in neuro-ophthalmology, such as cerebrovascular diseases (infarctions, dissections, venous thrombosis, intracranial hemorrhage), vasculitis, multiple sclerosis, sarcoidosis, infections, trauma, and phacomatosis. These are diseases with which the neuroradiologist needs to be very familiar and have significant expertise and knowledge. This chapter has wonderful illustrations of these entities, along with neuroimaging of these cases.
The only downside of this book is the lack of a good reference section.
For the neuroradiologist who needs to have an in-depth knowledge of neuro-ophthalmologic diseases, this book provides a good reference point in order to have direct access to necessary explanations, diagrams, and images of the neuro-ophthalmologic diseases that we encounter routinely.
