This book is designed for the neurologist who (in this day of unusually strict accountability) needs to have at hand an authoritative guide to the diagnostic criteria for all the conditions he or she may meet within clinical practice. While originally conceived as a compendium of diagnostic criteria, the author felt the need to expand the work to include definitions of practically all the terms that are used in neurology today. Some elements of history are also provided. The result effectively represents the tools of the trade for the neurologist in training and a source of information for the practicing neurologist that is both precise and concise.
The first edition was published in 1995. Since then, advances in the definition of many neurological conditions have been made, all of which have been incorporated in the second edition. These include criteria for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, dementia of Lewy-body type, frontal lobe dementias, chronic fatigue syndrome, and inflammatory neuropathies. There has also been fine-tuning of the definitions and diagnostic criteria for many other conditions. In the second edition further precision in definition has been achieved for the entries on at least 1,500 other disease states, syndromes, and clinical features. The clinical delineation for new syndromes and their genetic bases and of clinical subtypes of known disorders has also progressed. Entries on cerebellar diseases, peripheral neuropathies, various dementias, diagnostic tests (both clinical and laboratory), forms of cerebral edema, dissociative signs and syndromes - all these and many more have been added, expanded, updated or clarified in the light of new publications. Numerous web-site addresses also have been included in the new edition, as have portraits of 77 distinguished neurologists. The second edition remains an invaluable guide by a single author to the whole menu of neurological practice.