This is the first complete revision of Duiis' textbook of topical diagnosis in neurology since the death of its original author, Professor Peter Dims, in 1994. As is well known, the intervening time has witnessed major developments, both in the clinical neurosciences and in basic research. In particular, modern imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography on the one hand, and the new molecular biological understanding of the development, plasticity, and pathology of the nervous system on the other, have brought about substantial progress in our knowledge in the field of neuroscience. Yet, despite all of the advances in ancillary diagnostic techniques, topical neurological diagnosis—the correct attribution of symptoms or syndromes to lesions at specific sites in the nervous system—remains today the primary task of the clinical neurologist.
