Media Type: Textbook, with DVD-ROM

Synopsis :In these days of the Internet and unlimited access to information one could easily question the place of textbooks. This volume is an excellent example of the role that textbooks still play, serving as a filter to distill information to its most useful components.

Neuro-ophthalmology has always been a convergence of both neurology and ophthalmology. To practice this subspecialty, a neuro-ophthalmologist should think like a neurologist (anatomy directing the differential diagnosis) and yet to be able to use the diagnostic tools of the ophthalmologist (pattern recognition so fundamental to ophthalmology). In this sense, the authors provide the perfect filter. Two are neurologists, one with an expertise in pediatrics, and the other is an ophthalmologist.

Target Audience: This would be an excellent introduction to neuro-ophthalmology for those residents and early fellows who would like a readable comprehensive approach to the subspecialty. In view of the disease oriented approach, it could also serve as a reference.

Review: This 2 ^nd edition of Neuro-Ophthalmology Diagnosis and Management , like its predecessor, is divided into four parts: the first covering the neuro-ophthalmic history and examination, the second covering disorders of the afferent visual pathways, the third devoted to efferent neuro-ophthalmic disorders, and the fourth to headache, facial pain, and disorders of facial sensation. The authors have chosen somewhat arbitrarily to include orbital disease and pupillary abnormalities in the efferent section. These four sections are made up of 19 individual chapters with a fairly extensive index. The inclusion of higher cortical functioning, neglect testing, as well as memory and cognitive testing in the afferent section, is a testament to the neurologic influence. Other aspects that emphasize the neurologic approach include a section on neuro-ophthalmic evaluation in comatose patients.

Compared to the 1 ^st edition, the format has been changed, becoming larger, and more importantly, color illustrations are used throughout the text and are no longer isolated in a separate plate section. By increasing the size of the text itself, several of the illustrations have been made larger and easier to see. The authors have also included a DVD with videos showing many ocular motor abnormalities that would be difficult to describe without them.

Compared to more comprehensive texts, this volume offers the advantage of being written by only three authors, which results in far less duplication and a definite increased cohesiveness. The authors have done a superb job in keeping what was really excellent about the first edition and making changes of those aspects that were considered weaknesses. Color illustrations are now much more liberally included within the texts and closer to the appropriate sections than they were in the first edition. The authors have done an outstanding job in updating material that has occurred in the ten years since the first edition appeared. The inclusion of the DVD is also a major improvement. The text does a good job at walking the thin line between being comprehensive and providing a simple outline to the approach and diagnosis of various neuro-ophthalmic conditions. The authors have seamlessly introduced new technology including extensive examples of OCT and multifocal electrophysiology. The authors have also taken the opportunity of including much of the molecular genetics in localization of chromosome defects seen in many systemic diseases with neuro-ophthalmic complications such as the phakomatoses. There is an excellent use of tables reminiscent of texts 100 years ago.