The Abnormal Pneumoencephalogram [antikvár]

PREFACE The year 1950 marks the 32nd anniversary of the introduction of pneumoenceph-alography in the diagnosis of neurological disease. Its distinguished inventor, Dr. Walter E. Dandy, is, unfortunately, dead, and its place as the most important laboratory aid in diagnosis and localization, especially of brain tumors, is being ehallenged by electroencephalography and cerebral angiography. It, nevertheless, still forms the backbone of support for most neurosurgeons in their decisions whether and where to operate. The second World War and the death of our esteemed and beloved colleague, Dr. Cornelius G. Dyke, ha ve delayed the publication of this book long past the time of the promise of its appearance made in a previous volume on "The Normál Enceph-alogram." The delay is, however, not without compensation, since it has increased the experience of the authors of the present volume, matured our judgment, and permitted us to evaluate pneumoencephalography in the light of other develop-ments in the field of neurological diagnostic procedures. Since the work is intended for all those interested in neurological diagnoses, in-cluding radiologists, neurologists, neurological surgeons, psychiatrists, pediatricians and internists, its scope was broadened to include the fundamentals of neuro-pathology of brain tumors. Brief descriptions of clinical syndromes and illustrative case histories were alsó added to correlate the roentgenographic changes with bed-side observations. Our material was drawn from the neurological and neurosurgical services and roentgenologic departments of the Neurological Institute of the Presbyterian Hospitál of New York, the Jewish Hospitál of Brooklyn, the Montefiore Hospitál and the Beth Israel Hospitál of New York City. Our thanks are due to these in-stitutions and particularly to the heads of their respective roentgenologic departments—Doctors Ross Golden, Milton G. Wasch, Solomon Fineman, and Arthur J. Bendick. Unusual cases not well represented in our own collection were made available to us by Doctors John H. Dale, Jr. and Sámuel Z. Levine, Franc Ingraham, Carl List and the Hartford Hospitál, to whom we wish to extend our sincerest gratitude. For the illustrations of gross and microscopic specimens, we are indebted to Drs. Harry M. Zimmerman, Martin Netsky and Dávid M. Grayzel. Helpful technical assistance was rendered by the late Mr. Max Kulick, and Mr. Wilmer Abbey aided in the reproduction of the photographs. For the drawings we are indebted to Dr. Joseph A. Epstein. The burden of the preparation of this book was appreciably lessened by the pains-taking review of the manuscript by Dr. Emánuel H. Feiring to whom we are greatly indebted for his numerous helpful suggestions. Our acknowledgements would be indeed incomplete without recognition of the sympathetic cooperation of our wives during the long period of our collaboration. The typing of the manuscript and its preparation for the publishers were the work of Mrs. Hilda Feiring and her assistant, Miss Mary Norton, without whose enthusiastic devotion and ardent labors it could never ha ve been completed. Leo M. Davidoff, M.D. Bernard S. Epstein, M.D.