Clinical Neuroanatomy (eBook)

The collaboration of a clinical neuropsychologist and a behavioral neurologist, Clinical Neuroanatomy expands upon similar texts by offering an exceptionally extensive review of higher cortical – behavioral functions and their anatomical substrates. While a major text for students and clinicians in neuropsychology, it is highly relevant for behavioral and traditional neurologists, neuropsychiatrists, and others who have an interest in exploring the mysteries of brain-behavior relationships. This book begins with a traditional review of the basic internal and external morphology, major nerve and fiber tracts, behavioral correlates, and clinical syndromes associated with spinal cord, brain stem, and cerebellum designed to reacquaint students and practicing clinicians with the functional anatomy of the subtentorial central nervous system. However, as the text was specifically geared to meet the needs of those practitioners whose primary interest is in what might be termed “higher order cognitive-behavioral function,” the main focus of the text is on the brain itself. Borrowing heavily from a Lurian tradition, the central chapters reflect an attempt to offer more detailed, integrated, and, at times, theoretical models of cortical systems and their internal organization. Additional chapters highlight vascular anatomy and associated pathology, as well as neurochemical systems and their potential clinical relevance. The authors’ teaching style enlivens the material with clinical examples and welcomed touches of subtle humor.

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A major focus of clinical neuropsychology and cognitive-behavioral neurology is the assessment and management of cognitive and behavioral changes that result from brain injury or disease. In most instances, the task of the neuropsychologist can be divided into one of two general categories. Perhaps the most common is where patients are known to be suffering from identi?ed neurological insults, such as completed strokes, neoplasms, major head traumas or other disease processes, and the clinician is asked to assess the impact of the resulting brain damage on behavior. The second involves differential diagnosis in cases of questionable insults to the central nervous system. Examples of the latter might be milder forms of head trauma, anoxia and dementia or suspected vascular compromise. In either instance, understanding the underlying pathology and its consequences depends in large part on an analysis of cognitive and behavioral changes, as well as obtaining a good personal and medical history. The clinical investigation will typically include assessing problems or changes in personality, social and environmental adaptations, affect, cognition, perception, as well as sensorimotor skills. Regardless of whether one approaches these questions having prior independent con?rmation of the pathology versus only a suspicion of pathology, a fairly comprehensive knowledge of functional neuroanatomy is considered critical to this process. Unfortunately as neuropsychologists we too frequently adopt a corticocentric view of neurological de?cits. We recognize changes in personality, memory, or problem solving capacity as suggestive of possible cerebral compromise.