158

CEREBRAL VASCULAR DISEASE 7th International Conference Salzburg, 1974. Ed.by3.s. ~~R,~.LECH~R and M. REIVICH. XV, 205 pages; 109 figs., 71 tables, Price DM 6g,-. Stuttgart, George Thieme Verlag, 1976.

In this report on the 1974 Salzburg conference on cerebrovascular disease many contributions were focused on the main themes of hypertension and blood flow changes in dementia.

In hypertension the role of excessive vasoconstriction was investigated for the pathogenesis of hypertensive encephalopathy. The occurrence of blood-brain barrier damage resulting from break- through of autoregulation was enlightened by experimental contributions. As CBF studies suggested, it seemed that in hypertensive patients higher blood pressures could be tolerated before breakthrough occurred. The detrimental influence of hypertension in hemorrhagic stroke was suggested in a number of correlative studies.

Investigations in dementia generally showed a reduction of cerebral blood flow, while activation by testing procedures resulted in a smaller increase of regional blood flow. Several contributions focused on criteria to differentiate Alzheimer type dementia from dementia due to other causes.

In the section on measurements a method was reported, in which local cerebral blood volume was determined by means of labeled red cells, e.g. visualizing an area of reduced blood volume around a brain tumor.

The contributions in this Salzburg conference provide a valuable clinical supplement to those basic studies in the field of cerebral ischemia and pathology of cerebral microcirculation to which other symposia have been devoted.

GO

PAEDIATRIC NEUROLOGY FOR THE CLINICIAN by N.CWRDON. viii, 280 pages; illustr.; 87. Price: E 7.50. London, William Heinemann Med. Books Ltd.; 1976.

This book has been written for the paediatrician and the neurologist who is not going to practise paediatric neurology himself. It has been documented rather extensively. The author discusses some important matters thoroughly. Especially the examination of the newborn, the infant and the older child is well described. Also the evaluation of the possibilities that a child suffering from cerebral patsy has, is valuable to those who have never been concerned before with this problem. On the whole often occurring disturbances like epilepsy, mental retardation, headaches, closure defects of the neural tube and head injuries are amply discussed.

In addition pitfalls and small but important details usually not indicated in textbooks, are de- scribed.

It is a pity that the arrangement of some chapters is rather confusing which might lead to wrong conclusions. This especially holds good for the chapters on epilepsy and degenerative cerebra1 diseases.

Although a book like this has not the pretention to be complete, some important aspects of course and therapy of certain neurological disorders are left out.

A book that will be useful to those who want to obtain an elementary knowledge of childneurology.

Fleury