The aim of this book is to provide a straightforward summary of the
knowledge required for examinations in specialist Obstetrics and
Gynaecology. Part Two of the examination for Membership of the Royal
College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists would be a good example. The
volume is intended as a-companion to the highly
successfulBasicSciencesforObstetricsandGynaecology which covers the
knowledge required for preliminary examinations. Increasingly,
examinations ofall types are based on multiple choice questions (MCQ) or
structured answer questions (SAQ). No apology is made for the fact that
the present book addresses the sort of "fact" which lends itself to
testing by this approach. Thus, there is little discussion of
speculative or contentious areas, no account of present or future
research, and no references. Numerous excellent books are available
which cover these topics in a much fuller and more discursive manner,
and the present volume does not seek to emulate them. Even the most
apparently immutable facts are subject to periodic revision. We have
attempted to present the "state-of-the-art" most of the material is
generally if not universally accepted. A particular problem arises with
numerical information. Frequencies of diseases, frequency of clinical
findings, efficiency of diagnostic tests and therapies, have almost
always been the subject ofnumerous different studies, each of which
yields somewhat different results.