Fetal and Neonatal Physiology, 2-Volume Set, 5e

Book Preface

It has been nearly 6 years since the fourth edition of Fetal and Neonatal Physiology was published. During that interval, thousands of publications have focused on various aspects of the physiology of the fetus and the neonate. More than any prior edition of this textbook, the fifth edition has been substantially updated and revised. Nearly one third of the chapters have been written by new authors, and 16 chapters appear in this book for the first time. In addition, the book now concludes with a section on the pathophysiology of a variety of neonatal diseases that has 23 new or completely updated chapters. With this edition, we have made changes in the editors. Dr. William (Bill) Fox has become an emeritus editor, and we have added Drs. William (Bill) Benitz and David Rowitch. Bill Fox was one of the two original editors of Fetal and Neonatal Physiology, and his knowledge and enthusiasm will greatly be missed. David Rowitch and Bill Benitz bring their own skill sets to the textbook and have helped to make this edition truly outstanding. The challenge faced in the preparation of this edition was to provide an exhaustive update without allowing the size (and cost) of the textbook to escalate. To further this end, we have eliminated clinical information that can easily be found in one of the many standard textbooks on neonatology, without sacrificing our goal of making the book a comprehensive reference text.

As with any large textbook, there are a number of individuals we need to acknowledge. First, we wish to thank the hundreds of authors who contributed chapters to this latest edition. We realize that the “academic” benefits of being a chapter author are limited and that writing a new chapter or updating an existing one requires an enormous amount of time and effort. Only through the generosity of these contributors and their desire to educate has this edition been able to go forward. We wish to thank Marybeth Thiel at Elsevier, who has challenged us to make this edition ever better, for her tremendous help in the development and organization of the book.