Unless you are on another planet where the BBC doesn’t reach, you must have heard of this new buzzword. The BBC feature titled a life without mental images, made interesting listening. And Adam Zeman was as clear as always in his description of the phenomenon called aphantasia. Imagine being unable to imagine?
I however recommend Adam’s blog on this condition-a masterpiece! If on the other hand you prefer a harder take on it, then read his paper in Cortex(if you can break through Elsevier’s gauntlet).
This recent paper in the journal Stroke introduces the blend sign as a very good predictor of haematoma growth after intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH). It is seen on early un-enhanced CT head scans as a blending of hypoattenuating area and hyperattenuating region with a well-defined margin.
Above is what an intracerebral haemorrhage looks lie on brain imaging. For the blend sign itself, click here.It makes for a very nice buzzword, but see what you make of it. If you are not impressed, then let the blend mean only one thing!
At last my effort has paid off-the great man is now firmly in Wikipedia. It was a hard slog, having to learn the unique Wikipedia formatting rules and open editing process. It was however a gratifying experience.
You can follow this link: C David Marsden or indeed ‘google’ him
With this out of the way I can now start blogging through my list of top 100 Neurologists, one at a time. In case you missed it, here is a link to my main blog on Neurology greats
Well-researched reviews make the unwieldy number of research articles, and the rapid accumulation of knowledge, manageable. For this reason I set out to make a list of the most useful neurology review articles.
To do this I searched the database of references I compiled in the process of creating a neurology checklists app called neurochecklists. My search revealed more than 300 review articles, winnowed down eventually to the 150 most useful neurology review articles. Not an easy undertaking as this list had to cover the diverse range of neurological diseases, procedures, and interventions.
150 is a rather large number, and for a blog, an impossible one. I therefore went ahead to see if I could pin down what I think are the Top 50 neurology review articles. Here is the alphabetical list (disease, authors, and year), with links to their Pubmed abstracts.
Who are the most influential neurologists in history?Not an easy task as the starting field is rather wide. Creating a ‘top list‘ of anything is potentially controversial because there are often no clear inclusion criteria, and justifications are often subjective.
I was initially swayed by the length of Wikipedia entries but cautioned myself when I noticed that the piece on Raymond Adams was very brief. Furthermore, there was no entry at all for C David Marsden! Sacrilege, I thought. I felt strongly enough about this that I registered as a Wikipedia editor, and now there isaWikipedia page for David Marsden.
Santiago Ramon y Cajal by Joaquín Sorolla (1863 – 1923) ([1]) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Eponymous syndromes also tug at the heart, and I discovered that there is a book titled Neurological Eponyms. I have not read it, so I am unbiased in this regard. It is however difficult to avoid the influence of JMS Pearcewho seems to have written on every neurology great!
To compose a credible list, I thought a set of criteria was essential and I guided myself with these:
Volume, significance, and variety of contribution to neurology
Influence on clinical practice
Longevity of contribution
Breaking new grounds
Influence on other Neurology greats
Receipt of a Nobel prize
Lasting legacy in terms of books
Jean Marie Charcot by André Brouillet (see below) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
I have been liberal with the term ‘neurologist’ in the context of making this list. I have considered any specialist who has made a significant contribution to neurological knowledge and practice (how else would Alois Alzheimer get on the list?) Did I forget to mention-each name on the list is not living!
George Huntington (c. 1908)
Here then is my list of The Top 30 Most Influential Neurologists with links to their Wikipedia entries:
There are however too many influential neurologists, and to do justice to more of them, here is The Neurology LoungeTop 100 Neurology Greats.
If you think there is a name that is not on this list, and you strongly feel that it should be, please let me know (but you must suggest which name on the list should be replaced!) And by the way, do you have a photo of C David Marsden for his Wikipedia entry?
The Neurology Lounge will be incomplete without guidelines-what can we do without them? To come up with a list I took the easy path and searched a database of neurology checklists I am working on for an app. Guess how many guidelines there are? I found 120! 120 guidelines neurologists should know about! This surprised me. As the lounge doesn’t have a bookshelf large enough to accommodate them all, I scaled the number down to my most important 30.
Here then are my top 30 neurology guidelines-all linked.
PS: Since this piece was first posted, Neurochecklists has created a comprehensive list of evidence-based guidelines, review articles, and landmark studies which you can access through the links below:
![By Joaquín Sorolla (1863 - 1923) ([1]) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://theneurologylounge.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/joaquc3adn_sorolla-_santiago_ramc3b3n_y_cajal_1906.jpg)
![Jean Marie Charcot by André Brouillet (see below) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://theneurologylounge.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/charcot_blanche.jpg)
