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edited by Tulio E. Bertorini, 878 pp, with illus, ISBN 0-7506-7290-0, Woburn, Mass, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2002.

Arch Neurol. 2003;60:1487.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Advances in immunology, molecular biology, and genetics have revolutionized the diagnostic approach to neuromuscular disorders. This extensive, multiauthored text describes the diagnostic techniques, both standard and specialized, in detail—a topic that generally receives no more than 1 to 2 short chapters in reference texts that cover neuromuscular disorders as a whole.

The book contains 20 chapters; half are devoted to topics in electrodiagnostic medicine. The first 2 chapters provide an introduction to neuromuscular disorders, their cardinal clinical features, and routine laboratory testing. Although this will be familiar material to neuromuscular experts, the many figures depicting patients and the tables summarizing differentials for various symptoms and signs should prove very instructive for most physicians. Also summarized are provocative testing methods, for instance, edrophonium in myasthenia gravis, glucose and potassium loading for the periodic paralyses, and forearm exercise testing in metabolic myopathies. Although the use of some of these tests is waning, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Gil I. Wolfe, MD
Dallas, Tex