An Atlas of Alzheimer's Disease

de Leon MJ, ed. 149 pages. New York: Parthenon; 1999. $98.00. ISBN 18507091212. Order phone 800-735-4744. Field of medicine: Neurology and geriatric medicine. Format: Hardcover book. Audience: Physicians and trainees interested in the clinical and pathologic features of Alzheimer disease. Purpose: To provide an overview of Alzheimer disease. Content: The nine chapters of this book provide a concise but thorough and current survey of Alzheimer disease. The rich illustrations that accompany the text add an important dimension. The initial sections cover imaging studies and include positron emission tomographic images of regional cortical dysfunction and detailed in vivo neuroanatomic images obtained by using magnetic resonance imaging. The latter details the specific distribution of regional atrophy in Alzheimer disease. Subsequent sections highlight the histopathologic features of Alzheimer disease, including neurofibrillary tangles and neuritic plaques. The biochemistry of tau, a protein that stabilizes the microtubule structure of neurons, and its associated tangle pathology is explained, as are the characteristics of plaques composed of amyloid fragments. The text concludes with discussion of four well-documented molecular loci associated with familial Alzheimer disease: presenilin 1 (on chromosome 14), presenilin 2 (on chromosome 1), apolipoprotein E (on chromosome 19), and the amyloid precursor protein gene (on chromosome 21). Highlights: The text of the book is authoritatively written by world-class experts, and the illustrations (many of which are full color) enhance understanding. Limitations: An overview chapter that ties together all of the elements of Alzheimer disease is lacking. The quality of the chapters is somewhat uneven: Some chapters present relatively original and detailed observations, whereas others review previously published work at a level that is not comparably detailed. Related reading: Several recent texts, including Trojanowski and Clark's Neurodegenerative Dementia: Clinical Features and Pathological Mechanisms (McGraw-Hill, 2000), provide reviews and updates on Alzheimer disease. Reviewer: Murray Grossman, MD, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.