The seventh edition of the Manual of Obstetrics is the first without the authorship and editorial guidance of Dr. Ken Niswander. It was Dr. Niswander who created the Manual of Obstetrics in 1980 and served as the sole editor for the first three editions. For the fourth edition, Dr. Niswander invited me to join him as his associate editor. He graciously mentored me and taught me the ropes of the editorial process. Through the fifth and sixth editions, he allowed me to assume increasingly greater responsibilities, preparing for the day when he would step aside. The seventh edition represents the end of almost 30 years of editorial excellence by Dr. Niswander, but not the retirement of his wisdom and influence. I am honored to have the opportunity to carry on the tradition he started, and I hope to continue the standard of excellence that he established for the Manual of Obstetrics.
The most significant and obvious change in the seventh edition is implementation of a new format that is a more structured outline with reduced density of sentences and wording. This has been done to allow the manual to be used in both print and electronic media. The purpose of the Manual of Obstetrics has always been to be a quick, reliable source of information that is useful for making clinical decisions. In today's world, this requires a format that is adaptable to both paper and electronic media. To accomplish this, all of the chapters of the seventh edition have been reformatted and rewritten in an outline style that is less dependent on dense paragraphs and more conducive to electronic searches to find specific information.
Two new chapters have been added to the seventh edition, and two previous chapters have been combined into a single chapter. In recognition of the continued importance of preeclampsia/eclampsia, two experts in the field, Dr. Barton and Dr. Sibai, have contributed a new chapter that focuses solely on this unique disease of pregnancy. The previous edition's chapters on hypertensive disorders (sans preeclampsia/eclampsia) and cardiovascular complications have been combined and rewritten by Dr. Parry into a new chapter, ÑÐЬCardiovascular Disease and Chronic Hypertension.ÑÐÐ A new chapter, ÑÐЬObstetric Anesthesia,ÑÐÐ by Dr. Fragneto has been added in response to the crucial role of pain management in modern obstetrics.
The Manual of Obstetrics is intended to be used by all levels of obstetric practitioners, as well as by nurses and students. We hope that the changes in the seventh edition will improve its usefulness to all providers who care for pregnant women or are faced with specific obstetric issues as they care for their patients.
I want to acknowledge the editorial assistance and direction provided by Louise Bierig, the developmental editor, during the complicated process of assembling all the chapters in their new format into a cohesive book. Also, the organizational assistance of my secretary, Rosie Clevenger, was far above and beyond the call of her normal duties. Without both of their efforts, the seventh edition could not have come to fruition.
Finally, my gratitude and highest praise goes to the distinguished physicians who are the chapter authors for the manual. It is their knowledge and experience that makes the manual the resource that it is. Without their contributions, this manual would not exist. Thank you.
