Jitendar P Vij

EMCA House, 23/23B Ansari Road, Daryaganj

New Delhi 110 002, India

Phones: 23272143, 23272703, 23282021, 23245672

Fax: 91-11-23276490, 23245683

e-mail: jpmedpub@del2.vsnl.net.in

Visit our website: www.jaypeebrothers.com

© 2004, Editors

All rights reserved. No part of this publication and CD ROM of illustrations should be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the authors and the publisher.

First Edition: 2004

Typeset at JPBMP typesetting unit

Printed at Gopsons Papers Ltd., A-14, Sector 60, Noida

This book rightly focuses on undergraduates since the future truly rests on them.

27th April, 2004

The knowledge in obstetrics is expanding and one finds it difficult to keep pace with recent research. Research findings of today form the basis of practice in years to come. The core knowledge keeps changing and forms the basis of understanding of the disease process and management and is covered in this book. One may think of obstetrics as childbirth and its complications, but the expansion of knowledge in this area is exemplified by 46 chapters under 2 subsections. The book starts with issues related to conception, implantation and growth of the fetus and placenta. From this point, it expands to the knowledge needed for prenatal care followed by normal pregnancy and childbirth. The various obstetric and medical complications in the antenatal period are covered followed by normal and abnormal labor including operative deliveries. It ends with normal and complicated puerperium.

The editors would like to sincerely thank the contributors to this book. It had a long conception period due to some chapters arriving late and the need to have an extensive editorial process to make the chapters uniform, avoid duplication and step down postgraduate into undergraduate knowledge. The latter process has made some chapters so different from the original submission by authors. We ask the authors for their understanding and acceptance of this process. The principal editor collated the chapters from the other editors to streamline the publication and would like to acknowledge the help and advice provided by Mrs. Sue Cunningham at St. George's Hospital Medical School, University of London. We are grateful to the authors and publishers for their patience in the production of this book. Mr. JP Vij, Chairman and Managing Director and his team from Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) Ltd. need special commendation for the constant encouragement, in-house editorial work and production of the vast number of figures in the book. We would like to thank Dr. Shirish Sheth, past President of FIGO and an internationally renowned Obstetrician and Gynaecologist for writing the foreword for this book.