Article Outline

• Copyright

Four editors and 72 contributors conceived the second edition of The Cervix 30 years after the first was published. It has been fully rewritten although some historical valuable items have been left intact. All issues regarding the cervix have been grouped together in the parts: Anatomy, Dynamics of the cervical epithelium (including all the physiological changes), Fertility, Pregnancy and Labour, Infections and Neoplasia.

More than half of this book is dedicated to the pathology, diagnosis and treatment of cervical neoplasia. This text is up to date with recent references. The chapters on pregnancy and labour consist of 22 pages. Harold Gee describes the mechanics, biochemistry and pharmacology of the cervix and labour. The active process of cervical ripening is adequately described. Biochemical processes are put in relation with clinical events, although the inflammatory-cytokine cascade could have had more attention. Roy Farquharson has the difficult task to deal with the incompetent cervix. Investigations on early pregnancy loss is set in the organisation of a miscarriage clinic. A well-written review on cervical cerclage ends this chapter. Together with the colposcopic studies on the cervix during pregnancy described in Part 2, the cervix in pregnancy is fully covered.

This book is a comprehensive state-of-the-art resource for people interested in this vital organ. The layout is beautiful and the many pictures, tables and schemes are excellent. However, a placenta-orientated person, interested in the physiology of pregnancy and labour finds perhaps too little of interest.