Amaral LLF do, Bag AK, Guimarães Gonçalves F, Hanagandi PB, eds. Advanced Neuroradiology Cases: Challenge Your Knowledge. Cambridge; 2017; 544 pp; $160.00
Advanced Neuroradiology Cases is a compilation of uncommon but important diagnoses in neuroimaging. The primary audience of the book includes neuroradiologists, neuroradiology fellows, neurosurgeons, and neurologists. There are 8 chapters that include information about degenerative, vascular, infectious, inflammatory, metabolic, neoplastic, congenital, and miscellaneous diseases of the brain.
The text is organized in a case-based fashion, with a clean and concise delivery. Each case begins with a detailed clinical description and is followed by selective key imaging. The authors provide a relevant discussion of the diagnosis and explain why other entities in the differential diagnosis would be considered less likely. Important information regarding clinical or pathologic confirmation of the diagnosis is also typically provided. Each case ends with a summary of key points, facilitating easier recall of the pathologies for the reader.
When confronted with challenging cases, one’s approach and final interpretation is often limited by their fundamental knowledge base. The information contained in this book may seem somewhat obscure, but it provides valuable exposure to rare pathologies. The text not only serves to enhance radiologists’ existing knowledge, but also provides access to material that would not otherwise be readily attained from performing an internet search or literature review. Furthermore, the book provides reinforcement of key concepts in advanced neuroimaging.
The chapter on neurodegenerative diseases would be of particular interest to neurologists in their workup of cognitive dysfunction and movement disorders. The chapter on neuroinfectious diseases offers exposure to entities that may not be commonly encountered by those practicing in nonendemic areas but can be seen in patients native to those regions. The chapter on metabolic diseases aids in the approach to generating a differential diagnosis in these patients with often confounding imaging appearances. Each of the chapters also does an excellent job of highlighting atypical variants and presentations of more commonly encountered entities.
The representative, quality images provided for each case are excellent. Each image is labelled clearly, with arrows denoting the abnormalities of interest. The legends are adequately descriptive, and the summaries of imaging findings in the discussion portions of the cases are sufficient. Multiple references—primarily from current and scholarly publications—are provided at the end of each case.
Overall, this text is very comprehensive considering the scope of the material it aims to present. Future editions or companion publications may seek to provide similar exposure to uncommon pathologies encountered in spine imaging, as well as head and neck imaging.
In summary, this book is a unique collection of atypical cases that complements the present literature covering more commonly encountered disease entities. It is an invaluable resource to any radiologist or clinician involved with the diagnosis and treatment of patients with neurologic disease. It would also serve as an excellent supplement for neuroradiology fellows-in-training and those preparing for the subspecialty examination in neuroradiology. I highly recommend this book to my peers and colleagues.
