Medical professionals are often involved in the management of the pregnant patient without necessarily being experts on all the complications surrounding pregnancy. The Handbook of Obstetric Medicine addresses the most common and serious medical conditions encountered in pregnancy, including heart disease, thromboembolism, diabetes, skin problems, gastrointestinal disease, neurological problems, hormonal diseases, hypertension and pre-eclampsia, and more.
For each condition, the handbook includes a description of incidence, clinical features, pathogenesis, diagnosis, the effect of pregnancy, and management of the condition. The book also includes a detailed section focusing on the differential diagnosis of common symptoms including hypertension, chest pain, palpitations, breathlessness, headaches, dizziness, abdominal pain, and more.
The symptoms and differential diagnoses are presented in an easy-to-read tabular format and include a description of important clinical features and potential areas of investigation. For those clinicians understandably reluctant to prescribe drugs during pregnancy, a useful appendix includes a list of contraindicated drugs. In addition, to assist in the interpretation of laboratory tests, a second appendix lists normal laboratory values in pregnancy, broken down by trimester.
The handbook uses a pragmatic and easy-to-use design by including tables, bullets, and "Points to remember" boxes for ease of reference. It is an essential on-the-spot guide for obstetricians, physicians, general practitioners, and midwives in both practice and training.
About the Author: Catherine Nelson-Piercy is a consultant obstetric physician at Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in London. She is a professor of Obstetric Medicine at King's College London in the UK. She specialises in the care of women with medical problems in pregnancy. Dr. Nelson-Piercy runs special joint clinics for women with renal disease, cardiac, and rheumatic disorders in pregnancy and offers pre-pregnancy counselling for women with pre-existing medical problems and those with problems in previous pregnancies. Dr. Nelson-Piercy is the immediate past president of the International Society of Obstetric Medicine and editor- in-chief of the journal Obstetric Medicine. She is also an advisor to the British National Formulary for Drugs in pregnancy and in breastfeeding and has been involved in the development of several evidence-based National Guidelines.
