A concise and innovative account of clinical neuroendocrine disorders and the key principles underlying their diagnosis and management.

Clinical Neuroendocrinology, a volume in the Handbook of Clinical Neurology Series gives an overview of the current knowledge in the field of clinical neuroendocrinology. It focuses on the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases of the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. It integrates a large number of medical disciplines, including clinical endocrinology, pediatrics, neurosurgery, neuroradiology, clinical genetics, and radiotherapy. Psychological consequences of various disorders and therapies, as well as therapeutic controversies, are discussed. It is the first textbook in the field to address all these aspects by a range of international experts. - All contributors are recognized experts in the different fields of clinical neuroendocrinology - The book provides expanded coverage on hypothalamic mechanisms in human pathophysiology - The book includes current perspectives, diagnosis and treatment of pituitary diseases

Clinical Neuroendocrinology covers the clinical significance of the advances made in the understanding of relationships between the actions of neurotransmitters and the hypothalamic control of pituitary secretions. This book contains 24 chapters that examine the interactions of target gland secretions with the effects of hypothalamic and pituitary hormones. This book begins with a discussion of the physiological regulation and clinical applications of thyrotropin-stimulating hormone and thyrotropin-releasing hormone. The subsequent chapters are devoted to neuroendocrine aspects, secretion, regulation, and analysis of gonadotropin and gonadotropin-releasing hormone. Other chapters explore the regulations, tests, therapeutic implications, and clinical physiology of growth hormones and prolactin. This text also considers the chemical nature, brain pathways, mode of action, and clinical significance of other hormones, including corticotropin-releasing factor, melanocyte-stimulating hormone release-inhibiting factor, melanocyte-stimulating hormone, and related pituitary peptides. The remaining chapters examine the control mechanisms and pathophysiology of vasopressin, oxytocin, and neurophysins. Clinical neuroendocrinologists and researchers will find this book of great value.

Clinical Neuroendocrinology, Volume II discusses neuroendocrine science and its application to the analysis of human physiology and behavior. This book stresses the importance of the interrelationships between central and peripheral signals, neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, and target glands and peripheral tissues to ensure coordination of somatic and behavioral development and function. The ""centralist"" concepts of the importance of brain hormones are revised in this text, emphasizing that neurohumoral factors isolated from brain tissues, and initially considered to be primarily involved in the central nervous system regulation of the endocrine system, also exist outside the brain and spinal cord. This volume is valuable to neuroendocrinologists, but is also a good source for those involved in basic and clinical research and patient management.

A panel of leading experts integrate the latest findings from basic and clinical science to create a comprehensive treatment of the processes by which the brain acts as an endocrine organ, not only to control hormonal functions, but also to maintain homeostasis and regulate behavior. The authors-recognized both as leaders in their fields and as skilled teachers-provide systematic coverage of the analytical, anatomical, functional, clinical, and pathological aspects of neuroendocrinology. Topics range from the interactions between the nervous and endocrine systems to the regulation of reproduction, development, metabolism, fluid balance, and biological rhythms. Neuroendocrinology in Physiology and Medicine offers an unprecedented marriage of clinical and basic knowledge that has been missing from classical neuroscience, endocrinology, and physiology texts. It will teach today's medical students and serve researchers as a valuable reference to this rapidly growing field.