Clinical Neurology: A Cure for Neurophobia 2nd Edition

This  is the second edition of an introductory clinical neurology textbook  written for students, hospital medical officers, neurologists in  training, non-neurologist's and those that teach them. It contains the  principles of clinical neurology that were relevant 100 years ago and  will still be relevant in 100 years. It contains novel approaches to  clinical neurology. The nervous system is likened to a map grid with  meridians of longitude (the two ascending sensory and the one descending  motor pathways) and the parallels of latitude, (the dermatomes,  myotomes, reflexes, brainstem cranial nerves and the cortical signs).  This enables accurate localisation. 

It contains 3  rules that enable the diagnosis of brainstem strokes (the rule of 4) and  every peripheral nerve or nerve root problem in the upper (the 5*3*5*  rule) and the lower limbs (the 2*2*4 rule) without the need for detailed  knowledge of neuroanatomy. 

There are numerous illustrations and tables that complement the text. 

The  first 5 chapters cover neuroanatomy, the neurological history,  examination of the limbs, the brainstem and cranial nerves, and the  cerebral hemispheres. There is a unique chapter (6) that explains the  diagnostic approach once the history and neurological examination have  been performed. Subsequent chapters cover intermittent disturbances of  neurological function (with a very unique approach dividing disturbances  into those that call falls and those that do not cause falls either  with and without impairment of consciousness), seizures and epilepsy,  headache and facial pain, cerebral vascular, disease, common neck and  arm problems, back pain and common leg problems, abnormal movements and  difficulty walking and miscellaneous neurological disorders. The last  chapter discusses retrieving information and keeping up to date.

The  appendices discuss the bedside assessment of cognitive function, benign  focal seizures of childhood, new nomenclature and drugs for epilepsy,  treatment of migraine, epidemiology and prevention of stroke, tissue  plasminogen activator and clot retrieval, dysphagia screen, nerve  conduction studies and EMG, diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis  and treatment of Parkinson's. 

Finally, Professor  Gates reprints his 3 hypothesis papers. Firstly, that hypertension is  secondary to, not the cause of arteriorsclerosis with superimposed  atherosclerosis. Secondly, that Meniere's disease is a sodium dependant  potassium channelopathy and has nothing to do with endolymphatic  hydrops. Thirdly, his insights into the management of Idiopathic  Intracranial Hypertension (IIH), in particular the potential use of  short-term drainage of CSF at very low pressure and resolution of IIH.