This volume of the third edition of "Systemic Pathology" is written with the aim of creating a working text for pathologists with a more general experience in histopathology and for clinicians and basic scientists who wish to delve into the pathology of the nervous system. The first four chapters set the general scene for the study and investigation of pathology of the central nervous system. The first chapter concentrates on the cytology and ultrastructural aspects of the normal nervous system in addition to its pharmacological and physiological fratures. This is followed by a review of general pathological reactions of the nervous system depicting those features which can be used to analyze the pathology of biopsy and autopsy specimens in order to diagnose specific disease entities. A further chapter looks at the problems which arise in an organ, like the brain, which is not only sensitive to ischaemia, but is also enclosed within rigid compartments. A guide to the pathological examination of the central nervous system precedes chapters on specific disease entities. There are sections on cerebral vascular disease and dementia, as well as multiple sclerosis and toxic and deficiency disorders and others. The sections on the peripheral nervous system and on muscle both contain chapters on the normal features, general pathology and special pahtology of these tissues on the same basis as the larger section on central nervous system diseases. The chapters on peripheral nerve and muscle are written mainly from the pathologist's point of view but with an eye on the clinicopathological correlation. A section on the eye is included as the eye is partly derived from the central nervous system and is functionally very closely allied to the central nervous sytem.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 Central nervous system: cytology of the normal central nervous system, P.L.Lantos; histological and cytological reactions, P.L.Lantos; pathophysiology of raised intracranial pressure, D.I.Graham; pathological examination of the central nervous system, P.D.Lewis; vascular disease and hypoxic brain damage, D.I.Graham; trauma, D.I.Graham; bacterial and fungal infections and granulomatous diseases, R.O. Weller; protozoal infections and metazoal infections, P.D.Lewis; virus infections, R.O.Weller; toxic and deficiency disorders, J.B.Cavanagh; developmental, neonatal and paediatric pathology, R.O.Weller; ageing and dementias, P.L.Lantos; epilepsy, P.L.Lantos; system disorders, P.D.Lewis; tumours of the nervous system, R.O.Weller; pineal gland, P.D.Lewis. Part 2 Peripheral nervous system: normal peripheral nerve, J.B.Cavanagh; reactions of neurons and Schwann cells to injury, J.B.Cavanagh; pathology of peripheral nerve diseases, J.B.Cavanagh. Part 3 Muscle: normal muscle, general pathological reactions of muscle fibres, pathology of muscle diseases, D.Harriman. Part 4 Eyes: The eye and its adjacent structures, J.Harry.