Anesthesia for neurosurgery differs from anesthesia for most other surgical procedures because the surgeon's and anesthetist's efforts focus on the same target: the central nervous system. This coincidence makes it mandatory that the anesthetist carefully observe the effects of his drugs and techniques on the brain, also to comprehend the effects of the neurosurgical operation on cerebral cardiovascular and respiratory control.
McComish and Bodley present, in approximately 400 pages, a broad view of anesthetic techniques, including a most worthwhile theoretical background. The physiology of the intracranial milieu, its disturbance by disease processes, as well as alterations caused by anesthetic techniques and surgical intervention, are discussed both in general and in detail, for a wide selection of procedures.
Unfortunately, this book suffers the fate of many texts in that new developments occur before a book is published, moreso as time passes by. The current volume appeared in 1971, thus explaining some