Medical professionals are often involved in the management of the pregnant patient without necessarily being experts on all the complications surrounding pregnancy The Handbook of Obstetric Medicine addresses the most common and serious medical conditions encountered in pregnancy including heart disease thromboembolism diabetes skin problems gastrointestinal disease neurological problems hormonal diseases hypertension and pre eclampsia and more For each condition the handbook includes a description of incidence clinical features pathogenesis diagnosis the effect of pregnancy and management of the condition The book also includes a detailed section focusing on the differential diagnosis of common symptoms including hypertension chest pain palpitations breathlessness headaches dizziness abdominal pain and more The symptoms and differential diagnoses are presented in an easy to read tabular format and include a description of important clinical features and potential areas of investigation For those clinicians understandably reluctant to prescribe drugs during pregnancy a useful appendix includes a section on prescribing in pregnancy and a list of contra indicated drugs In addition to assist in the interpretation of laboratory tests a second