Jallo GI, Kothbauer KF, Recinos VM. Handbook of Pediatric Neurosurgery;Thieme 2018; 556 pp; 275 ill; $ 124.99.
Handbook of Pediatric Neurosurgery is a concise and practical pediatric neurosurgery textbook detailing the management of various pediatric neurosurgical disorders encountered in clinical practice. The primary author of this book is Dr. George Jallo, an internationally renowned pediatric neurosurgeon, with invaluable contributions from more than 80 national and international subspecialists in neurosurgery and other related fields.
The book has been nicely divided into 11 sections. It starts with an introduction dealing with critical care and pain management followed by a chapter outlining various imaging techniques when dealing with pediatric neurosurgery disorders. The next few sections cover specific disorders, including tumors, cerebrovascular disorders and vascular malformations in both the brain and the spine. There is an extensive review of congenital and developmental cranial and spinal anomalies as well as pediatric trauma and infection, involving the entire neural axis. There is an entire section dedicated to the understanding and surgical management of childhood epilepsy. The book concludes with a review on neuronavigation in pediatric neurosurgery.
The highlights of this book are many. Many of the chapters conclude with an informative subsection, which deals with “common clinical questions” followed by “answers to the common clinical questions,” highlighting the wealth of experience of the various authors. There are more than 275 excellent illustrations, intraoperative pictures as well as radiological images throughout the book.
Overall, this is an excellent textbook by expert pediatric neurosurgeons and other subspecialists who describe surgical procedures involved in the management of various pediatric neurosurgical disorders with an emphasis on certain operative techniques useful during surgery. The strategies and pearls gained from decades of experience provide an invaluable resource to young neurosurgeons learning the art of neurosurgery. This is by no means a comprehensive reference textbook, but more of a practical handbook outlining the surgical management of common disease processes.
This book can serve as an excellent text not only for neurosurgical residents who are just beginning to learn the ‘tricks’ of the trade, but can also serve as an indispensable tool and resource to neurosurgery fellows and pediatric neurosurgeons at all levels throughout their surgical career.
