Neuro-: Life on the Frontlines of Brain Surgery and Neurological Medicine

In this instructive report on advances made in understanding the nervous system and the brain that controls it, medical journalist Noonan focuses on neurologists and neurosurgeons who treat the ubiquitous and enormously complex network responsible for our simplest physical and most vital functions and inspiring intellectual and spiritual accomplishments. He describes in authoritative detail today's diagnostic and operating techniques of CAT scans, angiograms, etc., and microsurgery which he observed, personalizing his accounts with portraits of individual doctors and patients. With non-invasive procedures of medication, radiology, rehabilitative therapy, etc., neurologists treat stroke, motion and language disorders, cancer of the nervous system, and seek to alleviate incurable diseases such as Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis. Charging that technology and specialization tend to erect a barrier between doctor and patient, Noonan notes that no listing for soul or spirit exists in neurological textbooks. (Mar.)