Caplan's Stroke: A Clinical Approach, 4e [Hardcover]

"In Caplan's Stroke, we have a digestible, readable, and sure-handed guide to the care of stroke patients. Medical students, internists, neurologists, and stroke specialists will all benefit from reading this book.”-JAMA, review of the last ed.

[.] Although several texts on cerebrovascular disease are available, none matches Caplan's Stroke: A Clinical Approach. This is more than a monograph about stroke; it is the main avenue that the neurologist or internist interested in cerebrovascular disease should travel together with the patient who has had a stroke.

The book is a distillation of the personal knowledge and clinical experience of  Caplan, one of the world's leading stroke specialists. The frequent use of the first person results in a patient-oriented, grand-rounds format, with precise, in-depth information about all aspects of cerebrovascular disease. This combination provides the most interesting and comprehensive clinical presentation of stroke I have encountered. One can agree or not with some points of the author's clinical, diagnostic, or therapeutic approach, but surely any reader who likes to learn about this disease from patients and a master teacher will read it like scripture.

The 19 chapters address all major areas of clinical stroke medicine through review of recent literature, application of

existing knowledge to the practice of vascular neurology, and review of the practical issues relating to investigation and treatment. To effectively help the reader, the volume is well illustrated with high-quality illustrations and tables. The illustrations in the section on arterial territories of the human brain are especially detailed and well produced. The quality of the many computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging brain images and angiographic images is generally excellent and largely justifies the price of the book [.]

[.] All chapters are written from a refreshing patient-centered perspective. The author emphasizes the care of patients with stroke, providing clinical pearls from his own authoritative experience and clear direction in clinical method as applied to stroke. This textbook presents a well-balanced position between evidence-based and experience based medicine, remembering that in daily clinical practice any physician should take a position in response to his or her patient's condition according to knowledge and ethics. From this standpoint, anyone involved with cerebrovascular disease will find something useful in this book [.]

It is difficult to find any major faults with this book. It is not inexpensive, but there is no competition. There are some repetitions in the text, but these are few.

Caplan's Stroke: A Clinical Approach is the most comprehensive and authoritative text available on the clinical manifestations of stroke. It is a pleasure to read, especially the first chapter on the history of stroke medicine, but it is also an invaluable aid to clinical practice and will likely be the standard reference for many years.

JAMA, December 16, 2009-Vol 302, No. 23