Customer Reviews

Diagnostic Neuropathology Smears

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Diagnostic Neuropathology Smears by Joseph is an excellent resource for the general pathologist. As the book explains, smears are superior to frozen sections for the intraoperative assessment of brain lesions in the vast majority of cases (they conserve tissue, minimize artifacts, and provide additional information to the permanent sections). However, no general pathology or cytology text that I am aware of adequately addresses the CNS.

The photomicrographs in this book are superb, including low, medium, and high power views of all the major diagnostic entities (neoplastic and reactive), as well as gross photos and MRIs, which need to be correlated to the slides for maximum accuracy. Differentials and pitfalls are discussed and there is also an introduction to the approach to smears for the non cytologist. If you're studying for AP/CP boards, you should probably study something else, but if you are going to be alone in the frozen section room with one of these CNS lesions, this is the book to learn. I'm a cytology fellow about to go into general practice, and I'm glad I read this book.

This is a wonderful book on the diagnosis of neuropathology smears. It is well-written, succinct, and has excellent descriptions and images. Unlike many books in pathology (which are cut and paste jobs with brief micro descriptions), the author tries to walk you through the thinking process behind approaching a given case and what principles to consider and apply. Furthermore, the writing style is humorous, which makes it all the more interesting to read. If you are a resident in pathology (or even a general pathologist who rarely sees neuropathology cases), this book is for you. As a neuropathology fellow, this is my top recommendation to other residents, whenever I am asked to recommend a smear book for neuropath.