Edited by D Kondziolka, M McDermott, J Rgis, R Smee, and K Takakura (Pp 294, EUR196.50). Published by Karger, Basel, 2002. ISBN 3-8055-7365-0

Radiosurgery is a periodical for papers from the biannual meetings of the International Stereotactic Radiosurgical Society. Volume 4 of the periodical includes selected reports presented at the 5th biannual meeting. The publication is divided into sections on clinical subjects and contributions to physics and radiobiology. There are seven papers on intracranial vascular malformations, five on benign and seven on malignant intracranial tumours, two papers deal with radiosurgery for functional disorders, and eight are devoted to physics and radiobiology. The physics papers deal mainly with quality assurance issues of radiosurgery and are of interest to physicists working in the field.

One paper describes how 3D ultrasound images can be used to realise stereotactic radiation of extracranial targets where movements create a problem. A brief report on the histology of thalamic lesions in the baboon after stereotactic radiosurgery is the only contribution to radiobiology. Two thirds of the book are clinical papers of varying quality. Encouraging results of radiosurgical treatment for arteriovenous malformations are again presented, including a paper specifically devoted to treatment of larger malformations, which until now have eluded this technique. Another paper supports the value of gamma knife surgery for brainstem cavernous angiomas. Three chapters present positive results of gamma knife surgery for hormone secreting pituitary adenomas and the role of radiosurgery and stereotactic radiotherapy in the management of pituitary adenomas are reviewed in another chapter. The section on malignant tumours includes a paper describing the integration of metabolic data from stereotactic PET scanning in dosimetry planning. In the section on radiosurgery for functional disorders an update on the results of gamma knife surgery for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy is given. It is suggested that a therapeutic effect can be achieved even with subnecrotic radiation doses.

The book is of interest to persons working in the field of radiosurgery and is of limited interest also to neurosurgeons, neurologists, and neuro-oncologists who want to keep up with developments in the field.