Emergencies in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Lindsey Stevens in collaboration with Anthony Kenney Oxford University Press 265pp £19.95 0-19-262051 019262051.

One in 20 of all patients attending A&E have an obstetric or gynaecological complaint. Many of these cases are fraught with difficulty in that the diagnosis is unclear, but the possibility exists of life-threatening underlying pathology. Pregnant women also come to accident and emergency with the same illnesses and injuries that effect the non-pregnant population. The expression of their condition, however, is altered by the physiological and anatomical changes which accompany pregnancy, and their treatment often needs to be modified to safeguard the fetus.