Neuroanatomy through Clinical Cases - Tapa blanda

Published by Sinauer Associates, an imprint of Oxford University Press.

Neuroanatomy through Clinical Cases brings a pioneering interactive approach to the teaching of neuroanatomy, using over 100 actual clinical cases and high-quality radiologic images to bring the subject to life. The Second Edition is fully updated with the latest advances in the field, and includes several exciting new cases. This approach allows students to appreciate the clinical relevance of structural details as they are being learned, and to integrate knowledge of disparate functional systems, since a single lesion may affect several different neural structures and pathways.

Most of the book comprises chapters that explain the major neuroanatomical systems. Each chapter first presents background material including an overview of relevant neuroanatomical structures and pathways, and a brief discussion of related clinical disorders. The second half of each chapter is devoted to clinical cases. The cases begin with a narrative of how the patient developed symptoms, and what deficits were found upon neurological examination. Boldface type highlights important symptoms and signs. A series of questions challenges the reader to deduce the neuroanatomical location of the patient's lesion, and the diagnosis. Discussion and answers follow, and an epilogue reveals the actual outcome. One of the book's most innovative features is the inclusion of CT and MRI scans that depict each patient's lesion. These radiographs help the reader develop skills in interpreting the same kinds of diagnostic images employed in clinical practice.

The book is intended primarily for first- or second-year medical students enrolled in a basic neuroanatomy, neurobiology, or neuroscience course. It is also a valuable resource for advanced medical students and residents, as well as students of other health professions, including neuropsychology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, dentistry, and speech therapy.

Hal Blumenfeld is Professor in the Departments of Neurology, Neurobiology, and Neurosurgery at Yale University School of Medicine. He has taught neuroanatomy at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia Universities using the approach of Neuroanatomy through Clinical Cases, which the students greeted with highly favorable feedback. He recently received the prestigious Francis Gilman Blake Award, as the most outstanding teacher of medical sciences at the Yale School of Medicine, and the Dreifuss-Penry Epilepsy Research Award from the American Academy of Neurology. He has also been awarded several major grants (from the National Institutes of Health, and private foundations) to pursue his research, which focuses on epilepsy as a model system for investigating consciousness. Current projects include neuroimaging, neurophysiology, and behavioral experiments in animal models of epilepsy, and direct application to human patients.