Tips for brainstem cross-section

[Oreoomar]

Does anyone have any good ways to remember where structures in the brainstem cross-sections are? I remember seeing a post where someone said something like "sensory is lateral, motor is medial" but I'm not sure if thats right. Any help would be appreciated.

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[xeroun]

For me Neuro is much easier to study when I am doing active learning.

My suggestion is this:
http://www.drawittoknowit.com/study-plan/medical-student-crash-course.html

Draw it to know it is a great Neuroanatomy book. This is the site they have free 3 day trial and you should be able to get through everything on the med student crash course page.
Also has Neuroanatomy atlas included on site.



Plan:
Get some blank sheets of paper and your atlas.
Watch the draw it to know it videos and try to draw along with them(doesnt have to be perfect like on site)
After labeling everything on your drawing, compare it to pic in the atlas.

Now try to replicate the drawing without the video and while doing it think about the clinical relevance. Example: Drawing cross section of midbrain, try to think of the symptoms when different structures get damaged.

 

[Oreoomar]

For me Neuro is much easier to study when I am doing active learning.

My suggestion is this:
http://www.drawittoknowit.com/study-plan/medical-student-crash-course.html

Draw it to know it is a great Neuroanatomy book. This is the site they have free 3 day trial and you should be able to get through everything on the med student crash course page.
Also has Neuroanatomy atlas included on site.



Plan:
Get some blank sheets of paper and your atlas.
Watch the draw it to know it videos and try to draw along with them(doesnt have to be perfect like on site)
After labeling everything on your drawing, compare it to pic in the atlas.

Now try to replicate the drawing without the video and while doing it think about the clinical relevance. Example: Drawing cross section of midbrain, try to think of the symptoms when different structures get damaged.

This helped a bunch, thanks!

 

[Phloston]

Kaplan anatomy lecture notes, neuro-only sections, have phenomenal images for these that saved me on my real deal.

 

[loveoforganic2]

Kaplan anatomy lecture notes, neuro-only sections, have phenomenal images for these that saved me on my real deal.

Did you ever use HY neuro? I was originally going to read that, but my weakness for neuro is really specific to the actual anatomy. Is Kaplan's neuroanatomy strongly focused on the actual anatomy or does it have a lot of information about the physiology/function of the system? Looks to be about the same length as HY neuro

 

[xeroun]

Did you ever use HY neuro? I was originally going to read that, but my weakness for neuro is really specific to the actual anatomy. Is Kaplan's neuroanatomy strongly focused on the actual anatomy or does it have a lot of information about the physiology/function of the system? Looks to be about the same length as HY neuro

I have read both of them(I am obsessed with neuro) and even though they look about the same length...Kaplan Neuroanatomy(2012 color edition) is much longer read than High-Yield. Kaplan goes into more explanations and details. The clinical correlates are also very good. The images in 2012 Kaplan though are mainly artistic renditions of different structures.

High Yield seems short but in reality if you dont have a good background it might take a bit of time to read and understand it well. If you are solid in Neuro and just need a refresher then its really good.
No colored pictures though. All the diagrams are labeled nicely.
Unlike Kaplan it has a bit more images of actual labeled MRI, angiograms and brainslices (Chpt. 3,4,5 and 21)....

 

[loveoforganic2]

I have read both of them(I am obsessed with neuro) and even though they look about the same length...Kaplan Neuroanatomy(2012 color edition) is much longer read than High-Yield. Kaplan goes into more explanations and details. The clinical correlates are also very good. The images in 2012 Kaplan though are mainly artistic renditions of different structures.

High Yield seems short but in reality if you dont have a good background it might take a bit of time to read and understand it well. If you are solid in Neuro and just need a refresher then its really good.
No colored pictures though. All the diagrams are labeled nicely.
Unlike Kaplan it has a bit more images of actual labeled MRI, angiograms and brainslices (Chpt. 3,4,5 and 21)....

Thanks for the input! I'm fairly strong on neuro content in general, and I can usually recognize the more common structures on slice/MRI/angiogram (i.e. coronal presentations of caudate, putamen, etc., or circle of willis obviously displayed). I think I'd have trouble though (and UW hasn't really put this to the test), if I was given saggital or horizontal slices, or asked about slightly lower yield but still important stuff (positions of cranial nerve nuclei, for example). Do you think HY would be more worthwhile? I'll be putting in at most 2 days split between general anatomy review and neuroanatomy review, as a time frame reference.

Thanks again!

 

[MDSlacker]

Thanks for the input! I'm fairly strong on neuro content in general, and I can usually recognize the more common structures on slice/MRI/angiogram (i.e. coronal presentations of caudate, putamen, etc., or circle of willis obviously displayed). I think I'd have trouble though (and UW hasn't really put this to the test), if I was given saggital or horizontal slices, or asked about slightly lower yield but still important stuff (positions of cranial nerve nuclei, for example). Do you think HY would be more worthwhile? I'll be putting in at most 2 days split between general anatomy review and neuroanatomy review, as a time frame reference.

Thanks again!

I was basically in the same spot as you and I went through HY Neuro and thought it was great. I learned neuro pretty well when we did it in class but that was almost 1 year ago so I have forgot most of it. I still have the pathways and tracts down pretty well but like you said just location of nuclei etc. HY Neuro is really good for this and I would recommend skimming through the text as well. I spent maybe 4-5 hours total and went through all the chapters that I thought were important. It's a very quick read if you just need a refresher and the pictures are not color but they are labeled very well and have multiple sections at different levels. At times it seems like there is too much detail (they label 5 different parts of the ACA, different portions of the MCA, etc) but I just skipped over most of that.

 

[loveoforganic2]

Thanks, I think I'll stick to HY then, particularly since I've used it before

 

[Phloston]

Did you ever use HY neuro? I was originally going to read that, but my weakness for neuro is really specific to the actual anatomy. Is Kaplan's neuroanatomy strongly focused on the actual anatomy or does it have a lot of information about the physiology/function of the system? Looks to be about the same length as HY neuro

Kaplan anatomy lecture notes neuro-only sections saved me on my real deal. HY Neuro was better for just building background while I was in MS2.

I got a question on my real deal correct specifically because of those images in the Kaplan notes. No other resource helped me the same way.

 

[npktun]

Kaplan anatomy lecture notes neuro-only sections saved me on my real deal. HY Neuro was better for just building background while I was in MS2.

I got a question on my real deal correct specifically because of those images in the Kaplan notes. No other resource helped me the same way.

Apart from additional brainstem images ...HY NA stands way up in every single aspect as compared to kaplan .... but kaplan videos are not the one to be missed though.....great explanations throughout ....

 

[loveoforganic2]

Kaplan anatomy lecture notes neuro-only sections saved me on my real deal. HY Neuro was better for just building background while I was in MS2.

I got a question on my real deal correct specifically because of those images in the Kaplan notes. No other resource helped me the same way.

Strong endorsement. I suppose I'll change my mind for the 10th time this thread. I'll start w/Kaplan and see if I like it, move to HY if I need to. Thanks!

 

[Jamiu22]

Kaplan anatomy lecture notes, neuro-only sections, have phenomenal images for these that saved me on my real deal.

Good tip... I reviewed kaplan real quick last night.... and my exam was loaded with Neuro!!!!