The Diagnosis of Stupor and Coma

It has been 14 years since the appearance of the first edition of Diagnosis of Stupor and Coma by Plum and Posner. Since then, this monograph has undergone two extensive revisions, expanding from 200 to 372 pages and almost tripling the number of references. New chapters have been added with each edition: the 1972 version added sections on psychogenic unresponsiveness and the prognosis of coma, whereas in the current edition, a section on brain death has been split off and expanded along with a final chapter on the clinical approach to the unconscious patient. All in all, this is a towering monograph that in and of itself has clarified and established the application of basic clinicopathologic correlation to a very central area of clinical medicine and neurology. The writing is clear, concise, and illuminated by a number of fascinating clinical examples. It is annotated profusely with critically selected articles from