Author Description

This postgraduate textbook of obstetrics and gynecology is written by a clinician with an extensive involvement in both teaching and research. Each chapter takes a particular topic and examines the importance of that subject to both patients and doctors. The author assesses, by a critical analysis of the international literature, the evidence upon which contemporary clinical management is based, and allows the reader to assess the strength of the evidence for him- or herself. Detailed reference lists follow each chapter. The chapters have been designed to demonstrate where current methods of management have been incompletely assessed, and therefore indicate where further research and development are appropriate. The areas in which there have been major changes in the last decade have received the most attention; for example, major chapters are devoted to subfertility, contraception, infection, the management of the menopause, malignant disease, a critique of prenatal diagnosis, antenatal care and fetal well-being, and the benefits and hazards of natural childbirth. This book has been written for two principle groups of readers: first, for busy specialist clinicians who wish to keep abreast of developments and new techniques; and secondly, for candidates for higher professional examination who wish to gain broad and detailed grasp of the speciality.