The title on the cover of this book appears forbidding because it implies that the book will be an exhaustive treatise on all the genetic causes of neurologic disease. On the contrary, the book gives a concise overview of a rapidly expanding, and at times intimidating, body of genetic information that pertains to current neurologic knowledge. The contributors are well recognized and give useful information about the genetic basis of various central and peripheral nervous system disorders. It presents the clinical phenotypes of the most commonly inherited neurologic diseases, and their molecular pathogenesis, followed by a description of the appropriate tests to be used in diagnosis. Two introductory chapters familiarize the nongeneticist with medical genetic terminology and molecular genetic techniques useful in the analysis of genetic disease and genetic testing.
Subsequent chapters examine each major genetic neurologic disorder.
A book for the clinician, counselor or scientist. Just as our understanding of pathology transformed neurology in the 19th century, new genetic knowledge has permeated many aspects of neurology today. Indeed, genetic methods and disease gene identification have changed our basic understanding of neurologic disease processes, and the definition of diseases themselves has undergone changes as DNA based testing is substituted for clinical, morphological or biochemical definitions as a gold standard for diagnosis. All rights reserved.