Of course other investigative techniques i.e., CT scans and MRI are invaluable. While the etiology of the lesion is important to the clinician it is usually not a concern for the first year medical student. In Clinical Neurology, anatomic organization is of fundamental importance to the presentation of the symptoms of the disease, i.e., the site of the injury is more important to the development of symptoms than the cause of the injury. In evaluating symptoms it is well to remember that the disorder observed is not only the result of the loss of certain functions but also represents the activities of the remaining intact anatomic structures. This method requires rote memorization of many specific facts related to known diseases.
Many neurologic diseases occur as a result of a lesion at a single anatomic site.
One of the major goals of an introductory course of Neuroanatomy is to prepare the student to be able to identify the smallest possible single site of a lesion that will explain all of the symptoms described in sample cases.