SM Russell Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc., 333 Seventh Av, New York, NY 10001, 178 Pages GTV ISBN: 978-3-13-143071-7

The author intended the book to teach the reader how to examine patients with a suspected focal neuropathy, having found during his training in the diagnosis and surgical management of peripheral nerve disorders that there were few books addressing specifically the examination of patients with focal peripheral neuropathies.

It is divided into five chapters addressing the peripheral nervous system of the upper limbs and three chapters of the lower limbs. In each chapter, the author followed a scheme, whereas he charted the anatomical course of the nerve followed by listing of the muscle groups that the nerve supplies and how these muscles should be tested. The sensory innervations of the nerves were then highlighted along the points at which the examiner will elicit a deficit owing to dysfunction of the various branches. He finally covered some of the clinical findings and syndromes.

Unfortunately, there is considerable coverage of differential diagnosis and treatment despite that the aim of the book, as implied by the title, is an anatomical approach to the examination of peripheral nerve injuries. Despite the author's explanation to his rationale behind addressing first the median, ulnar and radial nerves, before addressing the brachial plexus, I found it confusing and illogical. Similarly, splitting the brachial plexus into a chapter addressing the muscles supplied by the smaller branches and another discussing the overall approach to the brachial plexus injury, localization and diagnosis leaves the reader overwhelmed. The same can be said about the chapters addressing the peripheral nerves of the lower limbs.

However, the book is of a nice pocket size, of good-quality print and of good schematic drawings and photographs in colour. I wish if somebody gives an equal facelift to Aids to the Examination of the Peripheral Nervous System published by the Guarantors of Brain; it was an essential companion to medical students and trainees in the United Kingdom.