John Casey, Resident Medical Officer, Royal Brisbane Hospital, Brisbane, and Pharmacist
The third edition of Therapeutic Guidelines: Neurology is a timely update to an essential reference for Australian prescribers. This edition is well organised and presents concentrated information that is suitable for readers of all levels — from medical students to specialists.
This edition covers essential subject areas of neurology such as headache, stroke, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. As a doctor-in-training, I found the headache section useful with concise differential diagnoses and red-flag warnings. The stroke chapter is compact and contains the latest evidence and best practice recommendations. Management of epilepsy and Parkinson's disease can be challenging and, appropriately, these chapters have been expanded to assist practitioners with patients who have treatment-resistant disease or complications.
The redesigned chapter on getting to know your drugs contains detailed practical information that also covers off-label uses. Newly released drugs, such as levetiracetam and pregabalin, have been included and each entry provides an excellent overview for busy practitioners. For pharmacists and specialists, it is sufficiently detailed to include pharmacokinetics and extensive listings of drug interactions and adverse reactions.
While this revision is well written, some sections are overly detailed and wordy which detracts from this book being a quick reference guide. A practical inclusion for future editions would be a tabulated version of driving recommendations for people with epilepsy, rather than a website reference.
I recommend this addition to the Therapeutic Guidelines library. It is a great reference for common neurological conditions and is sure to help most prescribers in their daily practice.
