Volpe’s Neurology of the Newborn, 6th Edition

By: Joseph J. Volpe, MD
ISBN: 978-0-323-42876-7
Pub Date: 11/3/17

Reviewed by: Jay P. Goldsmith, MD (Tulane University School of Medicine)

Description

This sixth edition of the gold standard in neonatal neurology comes 10 years after the previous edition. The book has undergone dramatic changes with five additional editors and 12 authors joining Dr. Volpe, who singlehandedly produced this book for the previous five editions. Although the organization is similar to previous editions, the book has been extensively revised, updated, and expanded, with many of the previous chapters split into multiple chapters. Although Dr. Volpe’s hand is evident throughout, the multiple authorship is easily discerned, especially when reading about clinical aspects.

Purpose

The original purpose of the book 35 years ago was to give neonatal neurology a prime place in the practice of neonatal medicine. Now that this subspecialty has achieved that goal, the book serves as its major reference. Dr. Volpe and his disciples continue to play a preeminent role in the field, and this book represents a compilation of their expertise and insight. The accompanying website adds additional value with superb illustrations and hyperlinks to journal articles, making the book even more useful to researchers and students in the field.

Audience

The book is aimed at a wide array of practitioners, from neonatologists and their trainees to neurologists and their trainees. It is also a starting point for researchers in the field with well-referenced chapters on neural development and sections on pathophysiology spliced into almost every chapter.

Other practitioners in the NICU will find many of the clinical chapters quite helpful as well as elucidating on common subjects such as glucose and bilirubin homeostasis. Finally, our legal colleagues have traditionally used this book to bolster their legal arguments on the etiology of perinatal brain injury, and this new edition will continue to be used in that regard, but with the added caveat that the opinions expressed are more than Dr. Volpe’s alone. All of the editors and authors are internationally regarded as experts in this field.

Features

The book is divided into 12 units covering all of neonatal neurology. The initial unit on human brain development has been greatly expanded with superb drawings and illustrations. After the second unit on neurologic evaluation, the book covers pathology of the nervous system in the next nine units and concludes with a unit on drugs and the developing nervous system. This edition includes many new figures, tables, algorithms, and micrographs. I especially appreciated the new chapters on seizures and the encephalopathies. The only possible suggestion would be that a maternal-fetal medicine specialist should have participated in the writing of the sections on intrauterine and intrapartum assessment of the fetus.

Assessment

This edition reaffirms the preeminent place is holds as the gold standard in this field. The addition of new editors and authors has broadened the scope and brought even greater credibility to the opinions expressed in areas that are controversial. This is a “must have” for every neonatal care provider and will probably find its way into many courtrooms where the etiology of perinatal brain injury is being adjudicated.

Doody’s Review Service Weighted Numerical Score: 97 – 5 Stars!