Edited by Bernard L Maria (Pp 562, US$74.95). Published by BC Decker Inc, Hamilton, 2002. ISBN 155009162X

• neurology
• paediatrics

Management includes assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. What emerges therefore is a book of clinical paediatric neurology—not a book on treatment in paediatric neurology. It is divided into outpatient and inpatient conditions and priority within these areas is apportioned by incidence. The top four outpatient neurological conditions presenting to paediatricians in Florida are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), seizures and epilepsy, developmental delay, and headache. The top four discharge diagnoses from hospital on the other hand are enteroviral meningitis, epilepsy, hyperkinetic syndrome (which the author explains by the presence of comorbid conditions requiring hospital treatment), and concussion.

The aim of this book is to provide “primary care physicians, neurologists and house staff with factual information on how to treat children with the most common disorders of the nervous system”.

There are some surprising omissions including spinal dysraphism. Movement disorders generally get short shrift. Of the 550 pages, cerebral palsy gets five (biomechanics gets five lines, prevention of secondary deformity is ignored), although there are a further eight …