New chapters highlight fifth edition of Ob/Gyn book
The fifth edition of “Obstetrics: Normal and Problem Pregnancies” was recently published.
Steven Gabbe, M.D., dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, serves as one of the book's editors, along with his friends of 40 years, Jennifer Niebyl, M.D., head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, and Joe Leigh Simpson, M.D., executive associate dean and professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Florida International University College of Medicine.
Gabbe met Niebyl and Simpson when they were residents and he was a medical student at Cornell. In 1981, they decided to collaborate on the first edition of the textbook, which was published in 1986, without the luxury of e-mail. Producing the fifth edition was considerably more convenient.
The 1,391-page, full-color textbook has 30 new authors and 14 new chapters and progresses from the basic science and physiology of normal obstetrics to that of high-risk obstetrics. Chapters that round out the book include co-existing disease, psychiatric disorders, including postpartum depression and psychosis, and legal and ethical issues in perinatology, making it what Gabbe considers the best edition yet.
Gabbe brought on four associate editors this time around, including Eric R.M. Jauniaux, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Institute of Women's Health at Royal Free and University College London Medical School.
“This enabled us to expand the coverage to include what's being done abroad,” Gabbe said.
Two of the authors joined the Vanderbilt faculty since work started on the latest edition — Etoi Garrison, assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Maureen Malee, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine. Gabbe co-authored chapters on diabetes, ante partum fetal evaluation and intrauterine growth restriction.
Other highlights of this edition include lists of major topic headings, key points and key abbreviations for each chapter, as well as a pass code to allow access to the online version.