Kempes Operative Neurosurgery Volume Two Posterior Fossa Spinal And Peripheral Nerve

It is a privilege and pleasure to write a foreword to this work. Who, twenty years ago, would have thought that a whole book could be devoted to the veins of the posterior fossa? Even today the standard text-books of anatomy only give a paragraph to the subject. Thanks to the dedicated work of rather a few neuroradiologists our knowledge has now reached a very sophisticated level. The careful correlation of anatomical dissection with the angiographic image has achieved this, but without the aid of subtraction (discovered by a world figure in neuroradiology - Professor ZIEDSES DES PLANTES) the subject would not be as advanced as it is. The authors are to be congratulated not only for presenting the most up to date anatomical information but also for showing how wide the applications are in the clinical field by the careful analysis of displacements of veins, many of which were quite unrecognised only a very few years ago. Drs W ACKENHEIM and BRAUN are in the forefront of this discipline to which they and the French school have contributed so much. Also it was their great enthusiasm and drive which led to the birth of the European Society of Neuroradiology, the first meeting of which was held in Colmar in September 1969. The Society has flourished under their guidance and very successful annual meetings have been held for nearly a decade.

In recent years, sonography of the peripheral nervous system has gained widespread acceptance. New diagnostic applications have emerged, and the field of ultrasound-guided interventions has expanded significantly: regional anesthesia, peripheral nerve blocks, and similar techniques are now frequently performed under ultrasound guidance by anesthesiologists and pain physicians alike. This atlas of peripheral nerve ultrasound is designed to meet the daily needs of both radiologists and clinicians by allowing rapid review of typical features, knowledge of which is important for successful diagnosis and intervention. The side by side presentation of ultrasound images with anatomical cryosections and photographs of transducer positions allows for reliable sonographic identification of even tiny nerves in regions of complex topography. The practical value of the atlas is further enhanced by correlations with high-resolution MRI scans.