Ironside JW, et al., editors: Diagnostic Pathology of Nervous System Tumours, 664 pp, London, Churchill Livingstone, 2002 ($259.00).

I suspect that many pathologists, plagued with copious amounts of free time, frequently find themselves pondering the meaning of the term ‘ecchordosis physaliphora.’ The first edition of Diagnostic Pathology of Nervous System Tumours answers this vexing question and many more in a well-formatted, visually pleasing textbook. Ironside and colleagues present a complete reference of nervous system neoplasms based on the World Health Organization 2000 classification scheme. In addition to covering all of the primary nervous system tumor types, the book includes separate chapters on the following topics: metastatic cancers, pituitary fossa neoplasms, cysts and tumor look-alikes, local neoplastic extensions into the nervous system, and dysgenetic syndromes. Each diagnostic entity includes epidemiological, clinical, radiological, and gross pathologic descriptions in addition to histologic and immunohistochemical features. And because neuropathologists tend to earn a significant portion of their paychecks in the frozen section room, a segment on intraoperative diagnosis is included for each tumor type as well. The photographs are of uniformly high quality, nicely illustrating the key features of each tumor.

Ironside’s book compares favorably with other neuropathology tomes published over the past year, including the fourth edition of Surgical Pathology of the Nervous System and Its Coverings, by Burger, Scheithauer, and Vogel ($225.00) and Greenfield’s Neuropathology, edited by Graham and Lantos ($499.00). Compared with Burger’s book, Ironside has a more expanded text, with greater discussion of differential diagnosis, molecular genetics, and other features of each tumor. On the other end of the scale, the encyclopedic Greenfield’s Neuropathology’s may be more in-depth than is needed for the practicing pathologist. Of course, Ironside’s book confines itself principally to tumors, whereas the other two texts cover the entire range of neuropathologic nosology.

I highly recommend this textbook to anyone needing a superb reference of nervous system tumors. And, finally, to satiate the curiosity of all those who patiently read the entirety of this review, “ecchordosis physaliphora” is from the Greek meaning bubble-like forms coming from a cartilaginous growth, referring to the notochordal vestige that is occasionally seen anterior to the pons as an incidental postmortem finding. See page 565 of Ironside’s exquisitely photographed book for an excellent gross anatomic image of this entity.