Heart Disease in Pregnancy. Second Edition.

Abstract

Celia Oakley and Carole A. Warnes, eds 354 pages. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing; 2007. $114.95. ISBN: 1-4051-3488-7 Oakley and Warnes’ second edition of Heart Disease in Pregnancy is a concise portable text that incorporates the views and practices of international experts to aid the reader in caring for the unique patient population of gravid women with heart disease. The highly readable text has a logical framework, starting with physiological changes in pregnancy and flowing through common, then rare, high-risk cardiovascular states. The chapters culminate in labor and delivery, with anesthetic approaches, then transition to the important issues of genetic counseling and contraception. Providing quick, easy access to information on basic physiology, disease states, and management strategies, it will be of interest to a very broad professional base. The first few chapters offer standard reviews of the response of the heart to pregnancy and physiological rather than pathological secondary changes in the physical examination. Cardiac testing during pregnancy is detailed. Importantly, the first pathology addressed is congenital heart disease, which has overtaken rheumatic valvular disease as the most common preexisting cardiac condition in women of childbearing age. The British perspective is illuminating, with subtle changes in nomenclature, …