scope:

Preface

It has been a privilege to be entrusted with the editing of Greenfield's Neuropathology but also a daunting responsibility, not least because our predecessors performed this task to such a high standard. Our aim has been to ensure that Greenfield's Neuropathology continues to provide an authoritative, comprehensive account of the pathological findings in neurological disease, their biological basis and clinical manifestations, and that this account is underpinned by a clear description of molecular and cellular processes and reactions that are relevant to the normal and abnormal functioning of the nervous system. We have sought to present this information in a way that is accessible to readers working within a range of disciplines in the clinical neurosciences, and that places the neuropathological findings in the context of a broader diagnostic process. This philosophy goes back to the origins of neuropathology as a distinct specialty; in their preface to Pathology of the Nervous System, published in 1921, E. Farquhar Buzzard and J. Godwin Greenfield noted that "No student of neurology or of psychiatry can be fully equipped for his work unless he has spent time and energy in a neuro-pathological laboratory, and the object of this book will be achieved if it serves to economise his time and to guide his energy." The emphasis in much of the present book is on an integrated approach to diagnosis taking account of the clinical manifestations, neuroradiological and laboratory findings, as well as the neuropathological and molecular genetic features of the different diseases. The implementation of this approach has differed somewhat for different topics and there is undoubtedly still scope for improvement. However, we believe that we have made good progress