Oppenheimer's Diagnostic Neuropathology: A Practical Manual PDF

Preface to the third edition

It has been pleasing to discover over the 16 years since the first edition of this book was published that it has proved useful, particularly to those just embarking on their training in neuropathology or who wish to acquire a smattering of knowledge on the subject. The diseases that are mentioned here have almost all been the subject of research over this time, resulting in enormously expanded understanding of them. It would be presumptuous for just two authors like us to consider writing a fully com prehensive account of these diseases on their own. That is something we do not attempt to do here. Rather we have aimed to write down our own practical approaches to revealing the neuropathology of neurological, neuro surgical and psychiatric disease in the hope that this will provide guidance to the newcomer. As practitioners respectively in the UK and US, we hope our advice will be relevant for a wide audience. The book has been extensively rewritten since the second edition. For full accounts of the diseases considered here the reader needs to turn to the excellent multi-authored texts that are available and to which we refer.

The illustrations have been a very important part of this book ever since it first appeared. We are delighted that our new publishers have been able to make the 800 plus illustrations (many of which are new) available on CD, supplemented there with yet more examples. We hope our readers will find the CD convenient to use for teaching as well as for their own understanding.

Finally, we are glad to retain David Oppenheimer's name for this third edition of the book of which he was the original senior author. His advice is still threaded through the chapters and his words still form the last words of the book - words with which we wholeheartedly agree.