PRINCIPLES OF MEDICAL THERAPY

Prefaces of textbooks are generally meant to give editors an opportunity to express the rationale for the creation of yet another textbook. It is rare to find an author or editor who does not believe that his/her book fills a very specific need. This editor is no exception. With the incredible proliferation of medical textbooks in recent years, it has become difficult to find an empty niche for yet another text. Nevertheless, the editors and authors of Principles of Medical Therapy in Pregnancy have been impressed by one very clearly appreciated void: While the association of medical disorders with pregnancy is increasing in frequency as improved medical care allows more patients with medical diseases to conceive, an authoritative text covering the issue, comparable to an authoritative text in internal medicine, has been missing. With pregnancy representing a very specific disease situation-different from the nonpregnant state in diagnosis, management, and course of disease-a detailed textbook addressing all these issues for both the internist and the obstetrician seemed urgently needed.