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Subarachnoid hemorrhage and cerebrovascular spasm
BOOK REVIEWS
559
vigilance states in human EEG experiments. PinSsch (Ziirich) reported on miniaturized digital memories for the coding of biological signals ( b o d y temperature, pulse rate, m o t o r activity). McKinnon (Oxford) presented a pocket-size tape recording unit using standard 4-track analogue tape casettes for the storage of EEG, ECG, blood pressure and other physiological parameters recorded during 24 h. Borb~ly (Ziirich) applied this system to longterm telemetric EEG experiments. The b o o k provides a good insight into the state of the art of telemetric technology and its applications in experimental and clinical biomedicine. The presence of a subject index would have facilitated the search for specific information. A L E X A N D E R A. BORBI~LY Institute of Pharmacology, University of Ziirich (Switzerland)
Ion transport through biological membranes. -- M.C. MacKey, Lecture notes in Biomathematics. Managing Editor: S. Levin, Vol. 7. (Springer-Verlag, Berlin--Heidelberg--New York, 1975, 240 p., DM 25.00). As expressed by the editors, the aim of this series is to report new developments quickly, informally and at a high level. This should counteract the experience that, in the present daily rush in the accumulation of scientific data, a seriously edited h a n d b o o k is only partially up to date when it is published; this may justify the publishing of books on specific topics in the hastily edited manner of this one. This, then, summarizes the major advantage and disadvantage of this book. The text is in part identical with lectures given in a department of physics and of physiology. For a review in this Journal one has first to state that the author presumes a high standard in mathematics and biophysics. The b o o k is divided into three parts. Part I deals with the electrical properties of the
membrane and the Hodgkin--Huxley axon. Part II reports a b o u t classical electrodiffusion with preference to the constant field theory. Part III covers more personally the author's theory, which is a microscopic kinetic theory model based on the dynamics of binary collisions, i.e., a discussion of the relationship between conduction changes and the probability of the collisions of ions. The b o o k presents an enormous number of data and it shows h o w to make use of kinetic models in understanding the membrane processes. It is often hard to read because of some confusion in the use of symbols; an extensive list of symbols is missing. Whether the author is expecting t o o much from students might be questioned: in one of the exercise problems which are found at the end of most chapters, he asks the student to find for himself a solution for electrolyte mixtures (7.3), the solution of which was the o u t c o m e of a well-known paper. Even if the student would like to try it, he could not find this paper in the list of references. This is just one example of the hasty editing already mentioned, which has to be accepted as a compromise for the purpose of the series. M.R. KLEE Max Planck-Institut fiir Hirnforschung, Frankfurt (W. Germany)
Subarachnoid hemorrhage and cerebrovascular spasm. -- R:R. Smith and J.T. Robertson (Edi-
tom). (Thomas, Springfield, Ill., 1975, 268 p., $ 26.50). The role of cerebral vascular spasm in causing neurological deterioration after subarachnoid hemorrhage due to ruptured aneurysm has recently been called into question by several authors. Nevertheless, neurosurgeons generally remain convinced on the basis of experience with individual cases that vasospasm plays an important role in the natural history of subarachnoid hemorrhage. Therefore, the publication of this book, summarizing current
560 knowledge of vasospasm, is welcome. This volume presents the proceedings of a conference held at the University of Mississippi b y a group of neurosurgeons, neurologists and physiologists who have been active in research on vasospasm, and is dedicated to Dr. F. Echlin who did early important work on this subject in the 1930's. The volume contains 16 papers which can be grouped into four areas. (1) The basic anatomy of the innervation of the cerebral vessels; the paper by S,J. Peerless and M.J. Kindall gives a good review of this complex subject. (2) The pathophysiology of experimental vasospasm and techniques for producing and studying vasospasm. Papers by F.A. Echlin, R. Witkins, R. Smith and F, Simeone emphasize that vasospasm is clinically significant when the vessel caliber is reduced to less than 50% of normal. R. Smith describes the application of the hydrogen washout technique for measuring cerebral blood flow and describes variability of flow seen at different loci in experimental vasospasm. Different models for producing vasospasm are discussed by N. Zervas, who has studied the role of serotonin released from platelets in producing vasospasm. F. Simeone and S.J. Peerless discuss vasospasm produced by mechanical
BOOK REVIEWS trauma to the intracranial arteries. (3) The pharmacology o f vasospasm and its modification by catecholamines is discussed by S.J. Peerless, and its modification by prostaglandins by R.P. White, H. Morgan, and J.P. Robertson. Possible relationships between vasospasm and antihypertensive and antifibrinolytic medications as used in the cooperative aneurysm study are discussed by Dr. Nibblelink. (4) Clinical studies on vasospasm; T. Sundt discusses the treatment of vasospasm with isoproterenol and lidocaine, and B. Stein gives a general review of vasospasm as seen in clinical situations. A general theme of the papers is the difficulty in defining vasospasm in the clinical situation, and the importance of quantitative measurements of cerebral blood flow in studying spasm. For the general reader, an overview or a summary of the conclusions of the conference would have been useful. Nevertheless, for the worker in this important and controversial field, the b o o k provides a valuable upto-date summary of information about vasospasm. R.OBERT G. GROSSMAN University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77550 (U.S.A.)
559
vigilance states in human EEG experiments. PinSsch (Ziirich) reported on miniaturized digital memories for the coding of biological signals ( b o d y temperature, pulse rate, m o t o r activity). McKinnon (Oxford) presented a pocket-size tape recording unit using standard 4-track analogue tape casettes for the storage of EEG, ECG, blood pressure and other physiological parameters recorded during 24 h. Borb~ly (Ziirich) applied this system to longterm telemetric EEG experiments. The b o o k provides a good insight into the state of the art of telemetric technology and its applications in experimental and clinical biomedicine. The presence of a subject index would have facilitated the search for specific information. A L E X A N D E R A. BORBI~LY Institute of Pharmacology, University of Ziirich (Switzerland)
Ion transport through biological membranes. -- M.C. MacKey, Lecture notes in Biomathematics. Managing Editor: S. Levin, Vol. 7. (Springer-Verlag, Berlin--Heidelberg--New York, 1975, 240 p., DM 25.00). As expressed by the editors, the aim of this series is to report new developments quickly, informally and at a high level. This should counteract the experience that, in the present daily rush in the accumulation of scientific data, a seriously edited h a n d b o o k is only partially up to date when it is published; this may justify the publishing of books on specific topics in the hastily edited manner of this one. This, then, summarizes the major advantage and disadvantage of this book. The text is in part identical with lectures given in a department of physics and of physiology. For a review in this Journal one has first to state that the author presumes a high standard in mathematics and biophysics. The b o o k is divided into three parts. Part I deals with the electrical properties of the
membrane and the Hodgkin--Huxley axon. Part II reports a b o u t classical electrodiffusion with preference to the constant field theory. Part III covers more personally the author's theory, which is a microscopic kinetic theory model based on the dynamics of binary collisions, i.e., a discussion of the relationship between conduction changes and the probability of the collisions of ions. The b o o k presents an enormous number of data and it shows h o w to make use of kinetic models in understanding the membrane processes. It is often hard to read because of some confusion in the use of symbols; an extensive list of symbols is missing. Whether the author is expecting t o o much from students might be questioned: in one of the exercise problems which are found at the end of most chapters, he asks the student to find for himself a solution for electrolyte mixtures (7.3), the solution of which was the o u t c o m e of a well-known paper. Even if the student would like to try it, he could not find this paper in the list of references. This is just one example of the hasty editing already mentioned, which has to be accepted as a compromise for the purpose of the series. M.R. KLEE Max Planck-Institut fiir Hirnforschung, Frankfurt (W. Germany)
Subarachnoid hemorrhage and cerebrovascular spasm. -- R:R. Smith and J.T. Robertson (Edi-
tom). (Thomas, Springfield, Ill., 1975, 268 p., $ 26.50). The role of cerebral vascular spasm in causing neurological deterioration after subarachnoid hemorrhage due to ruptured aneurysm has recently been called into question by several authors. Nevertheless, neurosurgeons generally remain convinced on the basis of experience with individual cases that vasospasm plays an important role in the natural history of subarachnoid hemorrhage. Therefore, the publication of this book, summarizing current
560 knowledge of vasospasm, is welcome. This volume presents the proceedings of a conference held at the University of Mississippi b y a group of neurosurgeons, neurologists and physiologists who have been active in research on vasospasm, and is dedicated to Dr. F. Echlin who did early important work on this subject in the 1930's. The volume contains 16 papers which can be grouped into four areas. (1) The basic anatomy of the innervation of the cerebral vessels; the paper by S,J. Peerless and M.J. Kindall gives a good review of this complex subject. (2) The pathophysiology of experimental vasospasm and techniques for producing and studying vasospasm. Papers by F.A. Echlin, R. Witkins, R. Smith and F, Simeone emphasize that vasospasm is clinically significant when the vessel caliber is reduced to less than 50% of normal. R. Smith describes the application of the hydrogen washout technique for measuring cerebral blood flow and describes variability of flow seen at different loci in experimental vasospasm. Different models for producing vasospasm are discussed by N. Zervas, who has studied the role of serotonin released from platelets in producing vasospasm. F. Simeone and S.J. Peerless discuss vasospasm produced by mechanical
BOOK REVIEWS trauma to the intracranial arteries. (3) The pharmacology o f vasospasm and its modification by catecholamines is discussed by S.J. Peerless, and its modification by prostaglandins by R.P. White, H. Morgan, and J.P. Robertson. Possible relationships between vasospasm and antihypertensive and antifibrinolytic medications as used in the cooperative aneurysm study are discussed by Dr. Nibblelink. (4) Clinical studies on vasospasm; T. Sundt discusses the treatment of vasospasm with isoproterenol and lidocaine, and B. Stein gives a general review of vasospasm as seen in clinical situations. A general theme of the papers is the difficulty in defining vasospasm in the clinical situation, and the importance of quantitative measurements of cerebral blood flow in studying spasm. For the general reader, an overview or a summary of the conclusions of the conference would have been useful. Nevertheless, for the worker in this important and controversial field, the b o o k provides a valuable upto-date summary of information about vasospasm. R.OBERT G. GROSSMAN University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77550 (U.S.A.)