Compared to its predecessor, this new edition also includes figures relating to the superficial venous network of the brain stem, thus giving readers a more precise and complete view of the superficial brainstem vessels. It also includes a special study on the pineal or collicular region and a correlation between the vascular territories and MRI views of brainstem vascular diseases. The book provides a complete view of the vascularization of the brainstem in humans including the arteries, veins and capillary network, for the study of brainstem pathology.

Compared to its predecessor, this new edition also includes figures relating to the superficial venous network of the brain stem, thus giving readers a more precise and complete view of the superficial brainstem vessels. It also includes a special study on the pineal or collicular region and a correlation between the vascular territories and MRI views of brainstem vascular diseases. The book provides a complete view of the vascularization of the brainstem in humans including the arteries, veins and capillary network, for the study of brainstem pathology.

I am greatly pleased and honoured to have been invited by Professor HENRI DUVERNOY to contribute a foreword to this book, especially since I became aware of the magnitude of his researches upon the cerebral vessels only a few years ago. These researches have, in fact, been pursued for almost two decades, beginning with a study of the hypophyseal vessels in 1958. More recently he has published a monograph entitled "The Superficial Veins of the Human Brain", and those who know this book will have noted the succinct clarity of the descriptive text and the superb quality ofthe photographs with which this chef-d'oeuvre is illustrated. This outstanding contribution to intimate detail of the superficial vascularization of the brainstem is now complemented by a second volume on internal angio-architec ture. As before, the emphasis is upon direct photographic evidence, and again the photographs are of a quality which must be almost unsurpassable. Those who are familiar with the technique of vascular injection of the brain and of the diffi culties of micro-anatomical identification, will applaud the excellence of Professor DUVERNOY' s preparations. Even the smallest named nuclei and fasciculi of nerve fibres are displayed most effectively. From study of these details, in conjunction with other descriptions of brain stern vessels (to which Professor DUVERNOY has hirnself contributed much), the vascular supply and drainage of all the recognised entities in the brain stern can be deduced.

It was when the author of this book was working in the Department of Human Anatomy at Oxford University that Prof. W.E. Le Gros Clark encouraged him to study the vascularization of the brain. Le Gros Clark, who has an international reputation for his research on the diencephalon, may thus be regarded as one of the initiators of this investigation. The prese!1t work is born of the happy coinicidence of a number of circumstances, namely, the author's possessing detailed anatomic knowledge and suitable techniques of carrying on research, and present the results, great patience, inventiveness and a special talent for dealing with highly complex material. It is necessary to know all this in order to understand how the author of this monograph was in the position to do such painstakingly detailed research on a subject of extreme complexity and to present it here in graphic and written form. The atlas fills a long felt want among neurosurgeons and researches in neuroana tomy as regards both the form and position of the nuclei and fiber tracts of the upper brain stem and the type and arrangement of its finer vascularization.

This e-book will review special features of the cerebral circulation and how they contribute to the physiology of the brain. It describes structural and functional properties of the cerebral circulation that are unique to the brain, an organ with high metabolic demands and the need for tight water and ion homeostasis. Autoregulation is pronounced in the brain, with myogenic, metabolic and neurogenic mechanisms contributing to maintain relatively constant blood flow during both increases and decreases in pressure. In addition, unlike peripheral organs where the majority of vascular resistance resides in small arteries and arterioles, large extracranial and intracranial arteries contribute significantly to vascular resistance in the brain. The prominent role of large arteries in cerebrovascular resistance helps maintain blood flow and protect downstream vessels during changes in perfusion pressure. The cerebral endothelium is also unique in that its barrier properties are in some way more like epithelium than endothelium in the periphery. The cerebral endothelium, known as the blood-brain barrier, has specialized tight junctions that do not allow ions to pass freely and has very low hydraulic conductivity and transcellular transport. This special configuration modifies Starling's forces in the brain microcirculation such that ions retained in the vascular lumen oppose water movement due to hydrostatic pressure. Tight water regulation is necessary in the brain because it has limited capacity for expansion within the skull. Increased intracranial pressure due to vasogenic edema can cause severe neurologic complications and death.