Neurology and Pregnancy: Clinical Management PDF

Preface

Dear Colleague

The management of neurological disorders in pregnancy is based on a good knowledge of the woman's medical and social history, available evidence and previous pregnancy outcomes, as well as an appreciation of her attitudes, beliefs, concerns and priorities. It calls for knowledge, judgement and experience and is as much an art as it is a science. It often requires balancing conflicting interests and supporting the patient and her partner in making potentially far-reaching decisions, sometimes based on insufficient evidence. It requires sharing the decision making process, aimed at ensuring the best outcome for both mother and child, so that the woman does not feel she alone carries the burden.

Advising a pregnant woman with a neurological presentation is by its nature a multidisciplinary process. No one specialist can do this alone and it is only by combining our skills and knowledge that we can provide the best care. This truly multidisciplinary book provides much of the background knowledge-base needed, both within and across specialties. Few volumes cover its scope. Moreover, where evidence is limited, authors have not shied away from giving sound clinical guidance.

We are enormously grateful to our contributing authors for generously sharing their expertise and for our publisher's patience in what has been a longer gestation than first envisaged. Our hope is that you, our reader, will explore sections in your field as well as other disciplines, and in doing so value this volume and learn from it as much as we have.