We are practicing Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the most trying period of advanced patient education and information. The newer developments in technologies and therapeutics aim at prevention or simplified treatment of various disease processes. With this background women with medical diseases like diabetes, essential hypertension and heart disease who were either not allowed to get pregnant or advised therapeutic abortion earlier are in this changing scenario allowed to continue their pregnancy. As an Obstetrician it becomes a duty to understand the medical condition of the mother and treat her accordingly, the treatment aiming at giving a healthy baby and a healthy mother. So it is expected that, today an Obstetrician should not only treat the pregnancy but master the medical skills and treat the medical disorders in pregnancy successfully.

As longevity of life increases in developing countries we will also come across more problems related to menopause in future. Urbanization, stress of life and lack of family support give a feeling of insecurity and makes the woman more vulnerable to psychological and medical problems related to menopause. As women play an active role in professional and social areas, it is essential that they enjoy optimum health and as gynaecologists it is our duty that they continue to remain active and useful so the need of the day is to understand geriatric problems and do the needful.

I would like to congratulate FOGSI for boldly accepting a much taboo subject as human sexuality as a theme topic for the conference. Though sexuality related issues fall in the domain of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology, specialists in this field prefer to ignore these issues and pass on the buck to the other specialists in this field, leaving these clients in “No man’s land”. With very fast changing social values and attitudes of the modern youth, needless to say, sexuality issues in every age group are equally pertinent and also we as Obstetricians and Gynaecologists should not turn our backs to these issues.

This book Progress in Obstetrics and Gynaecology is a compilation of reviews on topics of contemporary interest in the field of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Family Planning. An honest attempt has been made in the presentation of this volume to enable the reader to analyse the discussed clinical problems in our perspective. I hope that the book will be of immense help to practicing clinicians, students and trainees, who are increasingly challenged by the pace of new research and developments in the field of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Family Planning. The book is intended primarily for postgraduate students but it is likely to prove useful to practicing Obstetricians, Gynaecologists and Family Planning Personnels also.

I acknowledge with deep sense of gratitude the contribution of guest faculty and my colleagues in the department and college who have whole-heartedly cooperated and encouraged me in preparation and publication of this book. I wish to thank all the contributors of this volume who have submitted their chapters on a short notice, as well as the publishers without whose active interest, encouragement and support this publication would not have been possible.

Finally, I must pay a special tribute to my coeditors, Narendra and Manjula. As on previous occasions their advice and professional skills were invaluable at all stages of preparation of the volume and I am pleased to have this opportunity to acknowledge my indebtedness to them. Need I mention here that my better half Dr Manju Nagrath has been a driving force apart from her active contribution in sharing all my responsibilities relating to the preparation of this book.