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MedicalScienceBooks.com Medical Book Review:
Healthcare professionals are often in the position of
counseling and answering questions regarding the safety of various
pharmaceuticals during pregnancy. Perhaps even more often they are
called upon to answer questions about what effect a disease process of
the mother might have on the unborn child. Although the answers to many
of these questions are still to be determined, the prevalence and
complexities of disorders of the nervous system pose a special challenge
to the physician who often lacks good information on which to base their
opinions.
Neurological Disorders and Pregnancy provides a rich source
of information drawn from the most relevant available literature. The
chapter authors have expertly crafted brief synopses of the impact of
pregnancy on various neurological conditions and vice versa with
particular attention to providing guidance for questions most likely to
be brought up at clinic. It is important to note that a preference was
rightly given to large-scale multicenter clinical trials when possible.
Thus the reader can be assured that the information although necessarily
incomplete due to the lack of research in many areas, is being drawn
from authoritative sources.
There was a degree of inconsistency among the chapters in terms of
what information to discuss and how much detail to include while
discussing disease mechanisms. The chapter on epilepsy and pregnancy
was particularly well done in this regard with a good mixture of
clinical data along with brief explanations of phenomena such as the
mechanism of fertility issues in women who suffer from seizures.
Another note regarding the writing of the text is that in a few
sections, particularly in the multiple sclerosis chapter, the authors
discuss so many small studies with conflicting results in a single
paragraph that the overall conclusion of the section was somewhat
confusing.
However, in the case of the multiple sclerosis chapter a very clear
summary which gave the highpoints of the preceding discussion was
provided at the end. Other chapters such as those on epilepsy and
headache also provided summary conclusions. These summaries really help
with the comprehension of the main points and should have been
standardly included in all the chapters. Unfortunately, a few chapters
had less identifiable summaries and one or two had no clear summary
included at all.
Despite a few technical shortcomings, Neurological Disorders and
Pregnancy has important information for any physician who takes care
of women of childbearing age, particularly neurologists and
psychiatrists who manage conditions pre-pregnancy as they will be
confronted regularly with issues covered in this book.
Publisher Description:
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