Neuroradiology: The Core Requisites, fifth edition

In the era of online learning, this textbook is a breath of fresh air. It does come with an enhanced ebook version, but the vibe is very much an old fashioned didactic and conversational style provided by an enthusiastic team of mostly North American contributors, led by a trio of a student (albeit an associate professor herself) and two masters. “You have made it through chapter one, now onto some more good stuff;” such encouragement from the authors certainly kept me going.

The book has three parts (brain at eight chapters, head and neck at six chapters and spine at two chapters). Each chapter starts with a relevant anatomy section followed by imaging techniques/protocols. Excellent drawings and imaging examples aid good understanding of the fundamentals, and those pesky skull base foramina or arterial branches are made easy to understand and remember.

The brain section opens with an additional detailed anatomy chapter, then covers neoplasms, stroke, trauma, infections/inflammation, white matter disease, neurodegenerative and congenital conditions. For most radiology trainees and general radiologists, contact with neuroradiology starts with stroke, and the chapter dedicated to it is very practical, going beyond the expected basics and into the dilemmas of determining the cause of stroke, its age or distinguishing between haemorrhagic transformation and contrast staining following mechanical thrombectomy.

There is an unfortunate error in the paragraph on Fahr disease, which has mistakenly been titled Fabry disease.

The head and neck section includes chapters on orbit, sella and skull base, temporal bone, sinonasal disease, and two further ones inventively titled ‘Mucosal and nodal disease of the head and neck’ and ‘Extramucosal disease of head and neck’, each covering neoplastic, infective/inflammatory and congenital conditions within those anatomical compartments.

The spine section is divided into two chapters, on degenerative and non-degenerative conditions. The pragmatic approach of the authors continues to shine through, for instance in a paragraph titled: ‘Failed back surgery syndrome (the surgeon’s worst nightmare)’.

There is an abundance of good quality images in each section, with all relevant modalities covered. Captions are clear and informative, bar a few asterisks that are too small and difficult to see.

The book references are up to date, for instance COVID-19 infection and ARIA (amyloid-related imaging abnormalities) are covered.

In the introduction the lead author expresses her hope for the book to reveal the beauty and joy of neuroimaging to readers. Along with concise, accessible and effective coverage of everything radiology trainees and practising general radiologists need to understand and remember, this has certainly been achieved. It is a useful and easy to follow resource for radiology examinations, with tables, boxes, bullet points, physics pearls and teaching points, clearly presented throughout. The functions in the ebook (read aloud, customisable layout, search your entire library and 10 highlighter colours) will surely be a hit with a digital generation of radiologists. The closing advice to reach out on a secure chat platform to the clinician who requested the scan may even earn the reader an extra examination point (rather than the usual ‘pick up a phone’).

To purchase this title at our discounted rate email: katherine@radmagazine.com.