Brain, Vol. 125, No. 4, 924-926,
April 2002
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Book Review |
CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY OF THE VESTIBULAR SYSTEM, 3RD EDN
MRC Spatial Disorientation Group, Academic Department of Neuro-otology, Imperial College of Science and Medicine, London, UK
CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY OF THE VESTIBULAR SYSTEM, 3RD EDN
R. W. Baloh and V. Honrubia.
2001. New York: Oxford University Press.
Price $98.50. Pp. 428. ISBN 0-19-513982-8..
The text presents a panorama of neurophysiology, medicine and surgery related to the vestibular system. The book commences with basic concepts of anatomy and physiology, primarily of the vestibular system and its central interactions, which is restricted to about one-quarter of the text. This is probably an appropriate balance and many other ‘textbooks’ and ‘handbooks’ in the field have tended to be imbalanced in favour of extensive accounts of physiology at the expense of medicine. Next comes the history and symptomatology of the dizzy patient followed logically, in turn, by the techniques and results of bedside examination and then by laboratory testing. Within this section the investigation of Hearing is also dealt with succinctly, but comprehensively, as an essential adjunct to vestibular testing.
The second half of the book is appropriately concerned with the diagnosis, pathology and management of neuro-otological disorders arising from both peripheral vestibular and central nervous disorders,