A very obstetric issue

doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7415.0-g

BMJ 2003;327 (13 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7415.0-g

Editor's choice

A very obstetric issue

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A minute proportion of BMJ readers will be delivering babiesthese days, but most will vividly remember doing so as students.The first birth I ever saw caused me to burst into tears, muchto the surprise of the registrar giving a running commentary.The moment of birth is so rich with possibilities. Obstetricsis a specialty central to medicine but is wafted hither andthither by scientific, social, political, and ethical trends—asthis issue shows.

Andrew Shennan begins his review of recent developments in obstetricsby discussing one of its most difficult challenges—pre-eclampsia(p 604). It occurs in 3% of pregnant women and worldwide causes100 000 maternal deaths. Doppler ulstrasound of the uterineartery helps identify women who will develop pre-eclampsia,and low dose aspirin reduces the chance of developing the conditionby 15%. Management is complicated, particularly as controllingblood pressure does not alter the . . . [Full text of this article]

Richard Smith, editor

rsmith@bmj.com

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