Edited by R W Seiler and H-J Steiger (Pp 269, £108.00) Published by Springer-Verlag, Wien, 2001. ISBN 3-211-83650-0

• Seiler RW
• Steiger H-J
• editors. Cerebral vasospasm

This book contains the proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Cerebral Vasospasm held in Interlaken Switzerland in June 2000. It is one of a series of books of proceedings produced by Springer where the scientific work has also been recently published as a supplement in Acta Neurochirurgica.

The book begins with a brief overview of cerebral vasospasm as a clinical problem. It then presents the various papers from the meeting laid out in two parts. Part I refers to basic science and experimental vasospasm and part II the diagnosis and therapy of clinical vasospasm. Part I has sections on molecular biology of vasospasm, endothelial and nitric oxide gene therapy, and experimental vasospasm, while part II has the sections on diagnosis, microdialysis and metabolic monitoring clot-lysis to prevent vasospasm, endovascular treatment, neuroprotection, and haemodynamic therapy.

Like all proceedings it is in essence a collection of papers that represent the latest research and thoughts on the subject. As a result it is a little disjointed but this has been addressed by grouping the papers under the headings above. It is neither a comprehensive review of vasospasm nor is it meant to be. It is nevertheless a very interesting and informative book and does give a very useful insight into the direction in which research is heading. It is therefore very helpful for researchers in the field and would make a useful addition to a neurosurgical or neuroscience library.