Increasingly, pathologists are being confronted with the effects of a number of complex devices on the body. Cardiac pace-makers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, ventricular support systems for the heart are well established, and vascular and other protheses are being used in increasing numbers. New joint systems, contraceptive devices used as drug delivery systems, and the use of new cement materials all provide challenges in terms of their pathology. The articles in this text collectively form a body of information on these devices not available elsewhere and with an up-to-date bibliography.

Increasing specialisation in pathology reflects the progressive changes in medical practise. The advent of a specialist with a new interest in a hospital or clinic may present the pathologist with a need to extend his or her knowledge to be able to work closely with the clinical practi tioner in order to provide adequate clinical care. Some sub-specialisations are long established, such a one is neu ropathology. However, an exclusive specialist practise is generally con fined to neurosurgical centres and much neuropathology is of necessity, executed by geneni.l pathologists. The areas covered by this volume are those which are commonly managed by the generalist. Professor Adams' account of how the skull and brain should be examined here will give confidence to many by defining a good technique and the careful description of various kinds of vascular injury lesions resulting from raised intracranial pressure will help to clarify repeated difficulty. More subtle forms of damage are also considered in detail. Professor Weller provides a detailed account of how the central nervous system may be examined in a way which permits all of us to prepare material which will allow adequate investigation of central nervous system disease and the proper examination of peripheral nerves. This chapter will become a "handbook" and will be of interest to those in training and established practitioners. Muscle biopsy is also dealt with; this is an area of investigative concern for many gener alists. The role of that singular neuropathological technique is very clearly emphasized.

La pathologie vasculaire a ete tres marquee par les progres biologiques de ces vingt demieres annees. Le systeme arteriel est main tenant considere comme un organe a part entiere. Modelee au cours de l'organogenese par les facteurs hemodynamiques, Ie paroi arterielle maintient une structure hautement organisee et des proprietes mecaniques qui dependent directement des conditions de pression et de debit. La monocouche endotheliale developpe 2 une surface de plusieurs centaines de m a l'interface sang-tissu; elle est a la fois un organe endocrine complexe synthetisant de nombreuses proteines qui participent a l'hemostase, une surface thromboresistante et hemocompatible, une barriere de permeabilite contr6lant les echanges sang-tissus. Les cellules musculaires lisses constituent un tissu multifonctionnel, contractile, assurant la synthese des composants structuraux responsables des proprietes mecaniques de la paroi arterielle, la transmission de la force contractile, et une etonnante activite reparatrice en reponse aux agressions. Tout ceci est soumis a un ensemble complexe de communications cellulaires qui font de l'endothelium un veritable systeme recepteur pour la paroi vasculaire. Parallelement, ou a la suite de ces progres, l'angeiologie s'est progressivement affirmee comme une specialite clinique. Debordant Ie cadre de la chirurgie vasculaire, elle integre les concepts physiopathologiques au diagnostic et au traitement des maladies arterielles. De cet effort d'integration est ne cet ouvrage, cherchant a concilier les connaissances fondamentales es plus recentes et la demarche clinique.

It is easy to be confident that an appropriate body of advice is available to candidates about the content of an examination once you have passed it. Prospectively, the Primary and Final Examinations of the Royal College of Pathologists will appear to most to involve the assimilation of what seems at the time an inexhaustible volume of data, and the recent change in the College examination system has not diminished this concern for the majority of candidates. The guidelines for training for the new Part I examination state that this is the "major hurdle of the MRCPath" and it is clear that it will determine whether candidates are suitable for training which will permit them to practise independently as consultants after Part II. These general aims and objectives do not answer questions such as "How much do I need to know about glomerulonephritis?" or "Where do I stop with the lymphomas?" This text attempts to resolve the difficulty of knowing what standard to aim at, using College questions as its starting point. It concentrates on the essential basis of any single answer; many candidates for the new three-year examination will know more about individual topics than is stated here. However, it is the breadth of information required which is a feature of College examinations and this text should help with this problem.