Pediatric Brain and Spine: An Atlas of MRI and Spectroscopy

American Journal of Neuroradiology

Edited by L.M. Ketonen, A. Hiwatashi, R. Sidhu, and P.L. Westesson. New York: Springer-Verlag; 2005, 494 pages, 1427 illustrations, $239.

This MR imaging atlas is a comprehensive outline of pediatric brain and spine imaging, including modern techniques such as MR spectroscopy written by experienced North American authors. The book is divided into 12 chapters. Most of the chapters pertain to brain imaging, with added chapters on spine, head and neck, and fetal imaging. The description of each condition is well integrated into clinical presentation, imaging, and discussion, followed by recent and appropriate references. The book starts with a chapter on imaging of normal brain myelination and variants. In this chapter, brain myelination at various ages is accompanied by high-quality images. Although the images are a bit small, they are of excellent resolution and the findings are therefore seen clearly.

The book then discusses congenital malformations of the brain where there is an extensive description of almost all congenital malformations with a number of very descriptive images. Every entity in this chapter and the rest of the book is illustrated with a number of high-quality images. Some of the conditions are described with a collage of images from 2–3 cases, something rarely seen in other pediatric neuroimaging textbooks. This provides the reader with a wider spectrum of visual information.

The next chapter addresses inherited neurologic diseases and disorders of myelin, discussing various disorders of metabolic and demyelination/dysmyelination. Some extremely rare disorders are also described. For readers—one of them being me—who have limited or almost no knowledge of “common” conditions such as “p10p9 translocation” or “18 q syndrome,” this should serve as an excellent reference book. Following this are chapters on infection and tumors, where there is an extensive review of infection and tumors in childhood.

The complex issue of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy is well described and discussed with recent literature and many images. This is followed by a chapter on head and neck and spine imaging in which certain important topics pertaining to head and neck and spine in children are discussed. The last chapter addresses several miscellaneous conditions, most of which concern descriptions of the various neurocutaneous syndromes. (You cannot have a pediatric neuroimaging book that does not talk about neurofibromatosis and Sturge-Weber and tuberous sclerosis.)

Before concluding, I must add that the greatest strength of this book is its chapter on fetal imaging. The authors have gone to great lengths to include various important fetal conditions and their imaging appearances, with excellent supporting MR images. Few pediatric neuroimaging textbooks cover this topic in such depth and detail as this atlas. Another feather in the cap of this book is the MR spectroscopy findings in certain pertinent conditions by using both single voxel and 2D CSI techniques. The limitations of this book are few, if any. First, of course, not every possible entity in the neck and spine and the rarer brain conditions have been included. Second, the images are a bit smaller than normally seen in other textbooks, which is understandable in light of the space constraints and is more than made up for by the excellent resolution of the images.

Overall, this is an excellent pediatric neuroimaging atlas, covering almost all pediatric central nervous system disorders and many other rare conditions with high-resolution images with the most current and relevant references. This atlas can serve as an excellent book for not only radiologists, but also pediatricians, neurologists, neurosurgeons, and pediatric neurologists.