Examination of the cranial nerves

David Perkin

British Brain and Spine Foundation, £35

ISBN 1 901893 22 7

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Neurologists like to think of their specialty as one of the last bastions of clinical medicine. It is often said that a good history and a detailed clinical examination will provide the diagnosis in the vast majority of neurological disorders, with neuroimaging and modern diagnostics serving only to confirm this. In real life, neurological practice falls somewhat short of this ideal, but it probably is true to say that clinical skills are more important in the routine assessment of patients with neurological diseases than in assessment of diseases of most other systems.

Moreover, the nature and complexity of …