2) The Digital Anatomist. This is an excellent program developed by the Dept. Biological Structure, University of Washington, Seattle. It contains a huge library of views of the brain. We will refer to specific figures in many of our modules, including this one.

Print:

1) Neuroanatomy through Clinical Cases by Hal Blumenfeld.

----- There are two sections on the general anatomy of the brainstem. The first is in Chapter 12, on pages 460 - 464. Ignore the rest of this chapter, which covers the cranial nerves. We will deal with them in modules 8 and 9. The second section is in Chapter 14, on pages 576 - 584. These pages deal with the internal anatomy of the brainstem, primarily as revealed in cross sections. As the course progresses you may want to refer to the labeled sections of Figures 14.3, 14.4 and 14.5, but be aware that they - like Table 14.1, contain much more information than we need, at this point in our course. The spinal cord is discussed on pages 216 - 219.

2) Clinical Neuroanatomy and Neuroscience by M. J. Turlough Fitzgerald, Gregory Gruener and Estomih Mtui. Fifth Edition.

----- Fitzgerald gives an introduction to the brainstem and spinal cord in Chapter 3. There is a lot to cover in this module, so we suggest you skip the discussion of the “four decussations” in Box 3.1. We are going to put off our treatment of the cerebellum for now, taking it up in Module 6 - so you may want to skip this section, as well.

----- The brainstem is dealt with in much greater detail in Chapter 17. This is a “summary” chapter describing all the nuclei, pathways and landmarks present in this very complex region. As we go through our course, system by system, you will gradually synthesize all this information into your own image of the brainstem - but the detail is too much to handle now. So, skim through the chapter, just to see what’s there. Then refer back to it as we take up these neural systems (motor, sensory, etc.) in subsequent modules.

3) Fundamental Neuroscience for Basic and Clinical Applications by Duane E. Haines. Third Edition.

----- Chapter 5 provides an overview of the brainstem, but the material selected does not correlate very well with the content of this Module. This is followed by chapters on each division of the brainstem, but in this case the information is more detailed than we need at this point.

-----The spinal cord is covered in Chapter 3. Again, the detail is more than we need, but there are some good figures. Skip the section on spinal reflexes and the ones that follow it.