Preface

This edition of Cunningham and Gilstrap's Operative Obstetrics has been extensively and strategically reorganized for the busy practitioner. Once again, we emphasize the science-based underpinnings of clinical obstetrics. To accomplish these goals, the text has been updated with more than 3145 literature citations through 2016. Moreover, there are nearly 674 figures that include sonograms, magnetic resonance images, photographs, micrographs, and data graphs, most in vivid color. All of the original artwork was rendered by our own medical illustrators.

In this edition, as before, we continue to incorporate contemporaneous guidelines from professional and academic organizations such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Society for Maternal–Fetal Medicine, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others. Many of these data are distilled into newly constructed tables, in which information has been arranged in an easy read-and-use format. In addition, several diagnostic and management algorithms have been added to guide practitioners. While we strive to cite numerous sources to provide multiple evidence-based options for such management schemes, we also include clinical experiences drawn from large obstetrical services. In toto, the strength of each contributor has added to create the sum total of our academic endeavor.