Neuroanatomy: Illustrated Colour Text

Citation

Crossman, A. R. (2024). Neuroanatomy: An Illustrated Colour Text (7th ed.). Elsevier.

Chapter Summary

The seventh edition has sixteen chapters. Elsevier describes it as a concise account of the structure and function of the human nervous system, aimed at the gap between a brief overview and an extensive text, covering normal structure and function together with the clinically relevant dysfunction that students will meet in practice. Clinical material and topic summaries are highlighted in summary boxes, and the purchase includes an enhanced eBook with additional images and self-assessment material. The order of the chapters runs from general organisation and the peripheral nervous system, through the protective and vascular systems of the brain, and then up the neuraxis from spinal cord to cerebral hemispheres, ending with functional systems.

Chapter 1: Introduction and overview

The opening chapter introduces the nervous system as a whole before the detailed topics begin.

Chapters 2–4: Cells of the nervous system; Peripheral nervous system; Autonomic nervous system

Three chapters lay the cellular groundwork and then describe the nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord: the peripheral nerves and the autonomic system that controls the viscera.

Chapters 5–7: Coverings of the central nervous system; Ventricular system; Vasculature of the central nervous system

Before the regional anatomy of the brain, three chapters deal with the structures that protect, bathe and supply it: the coverings, the system of ventricles and the blood vessels. These are the parts of neuroanatomy behind conditions such as haemorrhage, hydrocephalus and stroke, which is in keeping with the book's stated focus on dysfunction seen in practice.

Chapters 8–10: Spinal cord; Brainstem; Cranial nerves and cranial nerve nuclei

The regional anatomy begins at the bottom of the central nervous system with the spinal cord, rises to the brainstem, and gives a separate chapter to the cranial nerves and their nuclei.

Chapters 11–14: Cerebellum; Thalamus; Cerebral hemisphere and cerebral cortex; Basal ganglia

The higher levels follow: the cerebellum, the thalamus, the cerebral hemisphere and cortex, and the basal ganglia, the structures most concerned with coordination, relay of information to the cortex, higher functions and the control of movement.

Chapters 15–16: Visual system; Hypothalamus, limbic system and olfactory system

The book closes with two functional systems: vision, and a combined chapter on the hypothalamus, the limbic system and the olfactory system.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–4: Organisation, cells and peripheral nerves

• Central and peripheral nervous systems: the division of the nervous system into brain and spinal cord on one side and the nerves outside them on the other.
• Cells of the nervous system: the cell types from which nervous tissue is built.
• Autonomic nervous system: the part of the nervous system that controls the internal organs.

Chapters 5–7: Coverings, ventricles and blood supply

• Coverings of the central nervous system: the layers that enclose the brain and spinal cord.
• Ventricular system: the connected cavities within the brain.
• Vasculature of the central nervous system: the arterial supply and venous drainage of the brain and cord.

Chapters 8–14: From spinal cord to cerebral cortex

• Spinal cord and brainstem: the lower levels of the central nervous system.
• Cranial nerve nuclei: the groups of neurones in the brainstem associated with the cranial nerves.
• Cerebellum, thalamus and basal ganglia: the major structures between the brainstem and the cortex.
• Cerebral cortex: the outer layer of the cerebral hemisphere.

Chapters 15–16: Functional systems

• Visual system: the pathway for vision, given a chapter of its own.
• Limbic system: discussed together with the hypothalamus and the olfactory system.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Deliberately concise. The publisher positions the book between a short overview and a large text, and sixteen chapters cover the whole nervous system. This makes it realistic to read cover to cover in a first neuroanatomy course.
• Clinically directed. Elsevier states that normal structure and function are described together with clinically relevant dysfunction related to conditions seen in practice, with clinical material highlighted in summary boxes. The readership listed runs from undergraduate medical students to junior doctors and trainees in neurology and related fields.
• Illustration-led. Illustration is central to the series and to the title; the seventh edition's illustrations have been updated for clarity, and the eBook adds further images.
• Built-in revision. Topic summaries in boxes and the eBook's self-assessment material support review before examinations.
• A stable, long-established design. Earlier editions were written with David Neary; this one is credited to Crossman alone. The chapter plan has changed little since the fifth edition (2014), whose listing shows the same sequence, with "Corpus striatum" in place of today's "Basal ganglia" and a closing "Problem solving" section that the seventh-edition contents no longer list. A review of that fifth edition in Pulse (April 2015) praised its concise presentation, intuitive layout, clear diagrams and summary boxes, and its physiological and clinical correlations.

Limitations

• Structural rather than cellular neuroscience. No chapter is devoted to neurophysiology, synaptic transmission, neurotransmitters or pharmacology, and the cellular material appears to be confined to a single chapter. Students on a neuroscience course will need another book for signalling and molecular mechanisms.
• Selective coverage of systems. Only vision and the hypothalamic, limbic and olfactory systems receive dedicated system chapters. Hearing, balance, taste, pain pathways, sleep and memory have no chapter titles of their own, so readers should check how these are handled before relying on the book for them.
• Brevity has a cost. Concision suits a first course, but specialists and students preparing for advanced examinations will need fuller detail from one of the longer clinical texts.

Where It Fits in the Course

Within this neuroscience course, Crossman serves students who need neuroanatomy itself, organised by region, with clinical consequences in view. Its closest companion is Barker, Cicchetti and Robinson's Neuroanatomy and Neuroscience at a Glance, which is also short and visual but spreads its pages across cellular neurophysiology, transmitters, cognition and psychiatry; the two complement each other, Crossman for structure and the At a Glance book for function and applied neurobiology.

For the neuroscience it leaves out, an introductory textbook such as Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain by Bear, Connors and Paradiso, Casey Henley's free Foundations of Neuroscience or the more comprehensive Neuroscience by Purves and colleagues covers neurons, synapses and systems at length. After Crossman, the natural next step for clinical students is a longer clinical neuroanatomy text: Snell's Clinical Neuroanatomy, which moves from anatomy to clinical significance with problem-solving cases, or Blumenfeld's Neuroanatomy through Clinical Cases, which teaches lesion localisation from real patients. The molecular and pharmacological titles in the course, such as Nestler and colleagues' Molecular Neuropharmacology, belong to a different strand.

How to Use This Book

The publisher's readership is undergraduate medical students and junior doctors or specialist trainees in neurology and neighbouring specialties, and it describes the book as suitable for readers new to neuroanatomy. Basic human anatomy and physiology are enough background.

A practical plan:

• Read the book in order. The sequence is cumulative: Chapter 1 gives the map, Chapters 2–4 the cellular and peripheral groundwork, and Chapters 5–7 the coverings, ventricles and blood supply that later regional chapters assume.
• Core regional chapters: Chapters 8–14 are the centre of any neuroanatomy course. Study the spinal cord, brainstem and cranial nerves together, since lesions in these regions are usually interpreted together, and draw the main pathways and nuclei from memory after each chapter.
• Systems chapters: Chapters 15–16 draw the regional anatomy together; the visual system in particular links structures from several earlier chapters.
• Clinical boxes: read the clinical summary boxes on a second pass and try to predict the deficit before reading it.
• Self-assessment: use the eBook's questions and extra images at the end of each chapter or block.

Pair the book with a brain atlas or a set of real sections and scans in the dissecting room if possible, and use a neuroscience textbook in parallel for the physiology of neurones and synapses.