Control of Gaze by Brain Stem Neurons

This book provides a summary of the authors' experience in ophthalmic diagnosis using the Sonometrics ultrasonic system. The system is a manually-operated B-scanner with A-scan and M-scan facilities. The first 2 chapters cover with clarity the basic physical principles of ultrasound, its application and display, and are essential to ophthalmologists applying the technique. A third detailed chapter is devoted to ultrasonic biometry of the eye. The final 3 chapters are concerned with the use of ultrasound in ocular and orbital diagnosis. Ocular problems considered are abnormalities within the anterior segment, the vitreous, the retina, and the choroid. A separate section is devoted to traumatic ocular conditions. The discussion of vitreous pathology is limited, which is unfortunate, as vitreoretinal disorders are one of the key areas for ultrasonic examination. This might reflect the fact that the system used is manually operated. Although the quality of publication is good, the B-scans selected for publication show poor tonal quality and many display artefact, features which do not do justice to the potential of B-scan ultrasonography in ophthalmic diagnosis. Two interesting pages of colour plates illustrate the use of colour to represent shades of grey on the B-scan, and isometric B-scanning. The final chapter of the book deals with orbital conditionstumours, inflammation, arteriovenous anomalies, and injuries. Of particular interest is the section on inflammation. Exhaustive lists of references follow each chapter. The appendix supplies some useful hints on techniques of examination. Diazefram, 10 mg administered 1 hour before examination, has been found useful when examining children aged between 5 and 8 years. The book will be of particular interest to those ophthalmologists with access to a Sonometrics system.