Hygino da Cruz Jr L, guest ed. Mukherji SK, consulting ed. Genetic Patterns in Neuroimaging. Elsevier; February 2015. Neuroimaging Clinics of North America; vol. 25, no. 1; pgs. 1–158; $360.00
The increasing emphasis on relating alterations in genetic makeup to various disease states makes it important to gain understanding of how chromosomal abnormalities relate to what we observe on neuroimaging studies. As medical school recedes into the distant past of our formal medical training, many of the critical facts for appreciating genetics and disease are forgotten (or maybe never learned). Enter the newest addition to the Neuroimaging Clinics of North America, edited by Dr. L. Celso Hygino de Cruz, entitled “Genetic Patterns in Neuroimaging”. This 158-page book features 10 chapters, with 24 authors, international in makeup, though predominately from Brazil. A word of appreciation is due to Dr. Mukherji, the Consulting Editor, for choosing this topic for the newest volume of the NICNA.
The ten chapters in the February 2015 issue of the NICA are: Understanding Genetics; Molecular Imaging in Genetics; Brain Imaging and Genetic Risk—Inherited Metabolic Diseases; Brain Imaging and Genetic Risk—Congenital Malformations of the CNS; Genetics and Cerebrovascular Malformations; Phenotypes in MS; Genetics of Glioblastomas; Genomics of Brain Tumor Imaging; Genetic Influence in Treating Brain Neoplasms; Imaging Glioblastomas—A Bridge Between Genomics and Neuroradiology. All of these chapters are rich with neuroimaging (except for the first chapter), so the reader can quickly relate genetic alterations to neuroradiology cases, examples of which are seen nearly on a routine basis.
Most radiologists, with few exceptions, who interpret neuroimaging studies rarely simultaneously give a thought to the possible underlying genetic aberrations that might underlie the pathology. Although presentations at national radiology meetings are highlighting such findings, they continue to be less appreciated than the future will dictate. For example, aside from polycystic kidney disease or multiple cavernous, the common tendency is to not reflect on the possible genetic underpinnings of cerebrovascular malformations. With the material in this chapter we can begin to assimilate such information into our thinking of the abnormalities. Of course, the same pertains to all other diseases (inherited metabolic, congenital, tumoral) covered in this book.
To begin this issue with a review of basic genetics was wise, not only because most of us need such a review but because it sets the table for information contained in ensuing chapters. The term radiogenomics is used in the book, and while it is a term foreign to most of us, it is one we will hear with increasing frequency, particularly when discussing the treatment of brain tumors.
Every practicing neuroradiologist should be aware of this particular issue of NICNA and should be ready to consult it, because it will consume more and more of our thoughts, especially when discussing abnormalities with our neuroscience colleagues. “Genetic Patterns in Neuroimaging” is highly recommended.
