Neuropathology
Roberta J. Seidman, MD, Associate Professor
A primer of basic neuropathology- The Central Nervous System and Skeletal Muscle
The nervous system is affected by similar categories of disease that affect all other organ systems, including congenital and developmental, vascular, inflammatory, infectious and traumatic disorders. The additional important category of neurodegenerative disease is unique to the nervous system. This primer of neuropathology is organized in chapters by category of disease with a separate chapter for skeletal muscle. Many of the diseases could be included in more than one chapter because of overlapping pathophysiology; in each case the disorder is included in a single section in the interest of convenience.
In order to recognize pathology one must have a basic foundation in normal structure, so the first chapter is an overview of basic regional central nervous system structure and anatomy. It includes an introduction to neurohistology. Other chapters address the pathophysiology of different categories of disease and provide examples of gross and microscopic pathology when they are available.
