Books about stroke are a new phenomenon. For decades the occurrence of an insult to the brain from ischaemia or from haemorrhage was used to localize brain function or to describe syndromes. It was an academic pursuit and of little help to the patients. Prevention and therapy remained elusive. Fortunately, revolutionary changes followed upon several sequential and contemporaneous developments: imaging of the blood vessels, the brain and the heart, explosive new knowledge about thrombosis and strategies to modify it, surgical techniques to remove the lesions of arterial degenerations and faults, and the maturation of the science of epidemiology, methodology and biostatics which lead us on a path towards the practice of evidence-based medicine. The commendable aim of this book has been to assist practitioners to make practical use of this rapidly expanding body of knowledge. Their aims are well satisfied. They have written their material in such a way as to assist those at the bedside or the clinic, in sorting out what is truly valuable, to point out what is likely to become valuable, and to caution about therapeutic strategies which remain in the realm of speculation. The authors have taken a novel approach to the production of a multi-author book. They have eschewed the common custom of pasting together a series of chapters and sections produced by individual authorities with a variety of styles, containing a lot of tyresome overlapping. Instead, as a group of colleagues and friends, they have engaged in collaborative endeavour which makes use of all of their knowledge and ideas in the production of each chapter. Because they are innovative leaders in the stroke field, the end product is both authoritative and readable. With an approach that is reader friendly and even at time chatty, they have produced a remarkable distillation of that which currently is useful to know and utilize in the field of cerebral vascular disease.The readers of this landmark publication will return regularly for help as the ever-changing tide of clinical material and clinical problems sweeps up to their outpatient clinics, wards and stroke units.
