Clinics in Developmental Medicine No. 191-192

This clinically orientated text by an international group of experts is the first definitive reference book on disorders of the cerebellum in children. It presents a wealth of practical clinical experience backed up by a strong scientific basis for the information and guidance given. The first part sets out the theoretical underpinnings of cerebellar disorders. This is followed by sections on clinical conditions grouped according to common characteristics such as aetiology and symptomatology. The descriptions of the clinical conditions each systematically cover, as appropriate, epidemiology, prevalence, diagnostic criteria, clinical features (including course and prognosis), pathophysiology, genetics, investigations, differential diagnosis, and management and treatment.

This book will be an invaluable resource for all those caring for children affected by cerebellar disorders, including malformations, genetic and metabolic disorders, acquired cerebellar damage, vascular disorders and acute ataxias.

This comprehensive reference text on cerebellar disorders in children includes chapters on cerebellar development, prenatal cerebellar imaging, imaging of the posterior fossa, with coverage of a broad range of malformations, genetic and metabolic disorders involving the cerebellum, prenatal cerebellar disruptions (as related to prematurity), vascular disorders, tumors and paraneoplastic syndromes, as well as acute ataxia and trauma to the posterior fossa. Numerous checklists are provided to assist in the differential diagnosis of clinical signs and neuroimaging findings.

Readership:
Paediatric neurologists, paediatricians, neurologists, developmental paediatricians, neuroimaging specialists, geneticists, neonatologists

Prof. Dr Eugen Boltshauser is Head of the Department of Neurology at the University Children's Hospital in Zurich. He has published on several neuropaediatric topics and particularly on cerebellar malformations and cerebellar disruptions. He proposed the designation Joubert syndrome (also known as Joubert-Boltshauser syndrome) in the second paper on this topic for the rare hereditary malformation syndrome of brainstem and cerebellum, at present probably the best studied cerebellar malformation, a paradigm for marked genetic heterogeneity and a "model disease" for impaired primary cilia function as well as for disturbed axonal guidance

Dr Jeremy Schmahmann is Professor of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and Director of the Ataxia Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA. He was awarded the Norman Geschwind Prize for research in behavioral neurology from the American Academy of Neurology and the Behavioral Neurology Society, and the Distinguished Neurology Teacher Award from the American Neurological Association. He pioneered the field of the cognitive neuroscience of the cerebellum, describing a new clinical syndrome - the cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome. His anatomical investigations and clinical and imaging studies have helped change the way we understand and treat patients with cerebellar disorders and neuropsychiatric illness.