Computed Tomography of Congenital Brain Malformations

This volume succinctly presents a review of central nervous system development and congenital malformations and illustrates the material superbly with numerous tables, diagrams, graphs, pathological specimens, brain sections, and, of course, CT scans. The author has done an admirable job in combining the illustrative advantages of an atlas with a review text's orientation to pertinent, concisely stated information. After an introduction in which the incidence of various CNS malformations is presented, the author devotes separate chapters to CNS embryology, corpus callosum dysgenesis, holoprosencephaly, Arnold-Chiari and Dandy-Walker malformations, hydrocephalus, neurocutaneous syndromes, and miscellaneous disorders. The section on miscellaneous malformations both discusses and illustrates encephalocele/meningocephalocele/meningocele, anencephaly, microcephaly, porencephaly, hypoand hypertelorism, lissencephaly, median cleft face syndrome, megalencephaly, fetal alcohol syndrome, arachnoid cysts, craniofacial anomalies in the amniotic band disruption complex, and anomalies of the septum pellucidum. The malformations themselves as well as pertinent physiological principles, developmental factors, and possible etiologies are discussed; the characteristic CT scan findings are described in depth. Each chapter is well organized and comprehensively referenced, and the text is printed on fine glossy paper. The excellent combination of atlas and text conveys a vast amount of information about congenital CNS malformations in a well-organized and superbly illustrated fashion. With the recent advent and increasing use of computed tomography, the volume is certain to become a valuable teaching tool popular among resident physicians in neurology, neurosurgery, and radiology, and it would be a fine addition to any medical library.