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Emergency Neurology
The Journal of Emergency Medicine, Vol. 44, No. 6, p. 1211, 2013 Copyright Ó 2013 Elsevier Inc. Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0736-4679/$ - see front matter
Book and Other Media Reviews , EMERGENCY NEUROLOGY. Karen Roos. New York, Springer, 394 pages, 2012, $149.
they usually have a pretty good summary. Not any more; the Headache chapter in this text is the best I have ever seen; succinct, complete, everything that you wanted to know but were afraid to ask. Illustrated with computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans, algorithms for migraine management, outlines of drug therapy including cautions in pregnancy, differential diagnosis; it is all here. There is a half-page discussion of malingering, which I wish had been an entire chapter. Sorting out back pain patients is a common problem, and describing some of the methods for identifying malingering would be useful. In summary, this is a very well-written textbook describing neurologic emergencies, written by neurologists. It would be valuable to have an emergency physician perspective, but that doesn’t detract from its usefulness as much as it might in some specialty textbooks. This is a book that gives the ideal approach to neurologic problems in greater depth, perhaps, than we would in the ED. That is okay. I want to know what the ideal is, and then I can adjust it to my circumstances. I recommend this book for anyone interested in honing their neurologic skills, teaching residents and medical students, or involved in neurocritical care.
Emergency Medicine and Neurology have been close bedfellows since the beginnings of Emergency Medicine as a specialty. Although Trauma Surgery and Cardiology would seem to be a better match, there was often some animosity between those specialties and Emergency Medicine. Although the neurologists were not as territorial, there was a huge amount of neurology to be found in the Emergency Department (ED) that they were willing to share: headaches, back pain, confusion, seizures, ‘‘spells,’’ and most importantly, strokes. No one thought that anything could be done about strokes until a marriage of Emergency Medicine and Neurology in the 1980s led to a whole new approach to strokes. Now we have Neurocritical Care/Emergency Medicine faculty that share clinical time, teaching, and knowledge. Dr. Roos, the editor of this work, is a distinguished neurologist and expert in neurological infections. Her 36 contributors are mostly neurologists, primarily from Indiana. Only one contributor is an emergency physician, which, in my experience, makes a text more Neurology than Emergency Medicine oriented. There are 19 chapters that seem to be organized at random. Each chapter has an abstract summarizing the topic, and they are extensively referenced. From my perspective, it is what is in between that counts, and I must admit that I was a little skeptical. My skepticism changed quite rapidly after reading the first chapter on Headache. I would always have my students read the chapter on headache in one of the standard Internal Medicine textbooks because
Edward J. Otten, MD, FACMT, FAWM Professor of Emergency and Pediatrics Director, Division of Toxicology University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati, Ohio http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jemermed.2013.01.024
1211
Book and Other Media Reviews , EMERGENCY NEUROLOGY. Karen Roos. New York, Springer, 394 pages, 2012, $149.
they usually have a pretty good summary. Not any more; the Headache chapter in this text is the best I have ever seen; succinct, complete, everything that you wanted to know but were afraid to ask. Illustrated with computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans, algorithms for migraine management, outlines of drug therapy including cautions in pregnancy, differential diagnosis; it is all here. There is a half-page discussion of malingering, which I wish had been an entire chapter. Sorting out back pain patients is a common problem, and describing some of the methods for identifying malingering would be useful. In summary, this is a very well-written textbook describing neurologic emergencies, written by neurologists. It would be valuable to have an emergency physician perspective, but that doesn’t detract from its usefulness as much as it might in some specialty textbooks. This is a book that gives the ideal approach to neurologic problems in greater depth, perhaps, than we would in the ED. That is okay. I want to know what the ideal is, and then I can adjust it to my circumstances. I recommend this book for anyone interested in honing their neurologic skills, teaching residents and medical students, or involved in neurocritical care.
Emergency Medicine and Neurology have been close bedfellows since the beginnings of Emergency Medicine as a specialty. Although Trauma Surgery and Cardiology would seem to be a better match, there was often some animosity between those specialties and Emergency Medicine. Although the neurologists were not as territorial, there was a huge amount of neurology to be found in the Emergency Department (ED) that they were willing to share: headaches, back pain, confusion, seizures, ‘‘spells,’’ and most importantly, strokes. No one thought that anything could be done about strokes until a marriage of Emergency Medicine and Neurology in the 1980s led to a whole new approach to strokes. Now we have Neurocritical Care/Emergency Medicine faculty that share clinical time, teaching, and knowledge. Dr. Roos, the editor of this work, is a distinguished neurologist and expert in neurological infections. Her 36 contributors are mostly neurologists, primarily from Indiana. Only one contributor is an emergency physician, which, in my experience, makes a text more Neurology than Emergency Medicine oriented. There are 19 chapters that seem to be organized at random. Each chapter has an abstract summarizing the topic, and they are extensively referenced. From my perspective, it is what is in between that counts, and I must admit that I was a little skeptical. My skepticism changed quite rapidly after reading the first chapter on Headache. I would always have my students read the chapter on headache in one of the standard Internal Medicine textbooks because
Edward J. Otten, MD, FACMT, FAWM Professor of Emergency and Pediatrics Director, Division of Toxicology University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati, Ohio http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jemermed.2013.01.024
1211