7.0 Tesla MRI: Brain Atlas: In Vivo Atlas with Cryomacrotome Correlation. Zang-Hee Cho (Editor). Springer 2010, 557 pages, 500 illustrations, $299.00.
This is probably the largest book in dimensions (15.1 inches x 12.1 inches) ever reviewed for the AJNR. When it arrived, it reminded me of a Rand McNally World Atlas that one places on a book stand. That initial observation aside, this 557-page atlas directly compares whole brain (filling a whole page) cryomaccrotome images (on the left hand page) with the corresponding high detail post vivo, 7 Telsa, T2 weighted MR images (on the right hand page). These images, anatomic and MR, are shown as axial, coronal and sagittal displays in 3 separate areas of the book. As one would expect, the images are detailed and while it does not diminish the value of the book, some “ringing” artifacts particularly noticeable on the sagittal images through the pons, are mildly annoying. The axial images in particular demonstrate how the deep transmedullary venous anatomy are so striking at 7T. The index lists all structures presented in the text and indicates every page on which that structure is demonstrated.
At the end of the book, there is a strange and frankly an unfair comparison made to 1.5 T images. For example the 1.5 T images are not of high quality and a series of images are labelled 1.5 T (T1) but the axial are T2 weighted. Furthermore to do a comparison between T2 images on 7T and T1 images at 1.5 doesn’t make sense to say nothing of the fact that the T1 W coronal image is blurry even before magnification, and the signal intensity is not balance between the two hemispheres.
Those caveats aside — and it must be noted that this 7T to 1.5T comparison is very minor part of the book — the labeling is extensive and instructive although the use if some terms is unusual, like ‘eyeball’ instead of globe. Also, in many places the authors clearly have arrows pointing to the sub cortical white matter and label these as gyrus. For a review of both basic and more detailed brain anatomy the atlas serves its purpose; however, in some areas, like the brain stem, another recently published book Duvernoy’s Atlas of the Human Brain Stem and Cerebellum by T.P. Naidich, H.M. Duvernoy, B.N. Delman, et al is far more detailed and informative. Nonetheless, this atlas could be a reference text in a Departmental library. There will be few individuals who would desire this for their own personal library.
