Preface

Forty years ago, as clinical teachers at the UCSF School of Medicine, we decided that there was a need for a new teaching text that combined the basic and clinical aspects of neurology. Following a lunch meeting, Jack Lange of Lange Medical Publications agreed to the addition of a clinical neurology textbook to the Lange textbook series. He smiled when one of us (RPS) offered to provide the text in two years, noting that no one had produced a textbook in that time. With two coauthors (MJA and DAG) and after some ten years, the text of Clinical Neurology was finally completed and in 1989 the first edition was published. With the publication of the 10th edition and translations in eight languages, our text will have provided nearly 30 consecutive years of neurology teaching material to medical students in the United States and around the world via the print volume (purchased or rented), e-book edition, and AccessMedicine website.

As in each new edition, we have retained and refined the core didactic material relating to the function of the nervous system in health and disease and added new and evolving diagnostic and therapeutic material. Full-color figures illustrate key concepts. Over the years, the book has encompassed the evolution of therapeutics in neurology, particularly for epilepsy and headache and most recently for demyelinating disease. This edition continues to document the expansion of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to nervous system disease. To those who still believe that there are limited therapeutic options in neurology, we hope that the present volume will help to convince them otherwise. Within just the last year, advances in molecular biology and immunology have led to the approval of new drugs for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (alemtuzumab), spinal muscular atrophy (nusinersen), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (edaravone), and Huntington’s disease (deutetrabenazine). These and other therapeutic advances are included in this new edition.

Over the years, many colleagues have suggested revisions, contributed figures and radiographic material, and read over portions of the book. In this regard, we thank the members of the faculty of UCSF, the University of Pittsburgh, the Oregon Health and Sciences University, and Emory University who helped us, as well as the current and past staff of our publisher, McGraw-Hill, and particularly Andrew Moyer and Christie Naglieri for their assistance with this latest edition. Special thanks are due to Martha Johnson, PhD, for her careful copy-editing of the entire 10th edition and to McGraw-Hill for providing a new index to optimize accessibility.