Clinical physiology in pregnancy

The birth of a healthy baby is dependent on an ordered sequence of biologic events that begin during the menstrual cycle prior to ovulation, proceed thrugh conception and implantation and persist throughout the duration of pregnancy and parturiotion and return to normal during thr puerperium. Successful outcome of pregnancy depends upon genetic, cellular, and hormonal interactions, which lead to fertilization, implantation, placentation, embryonic, and fetal development, physiological and biochemical changes in both the maternal and fetal systems during pregnancy, fetal adaptation to intrauterine life, parturition and newborn adaptation to extrauterine life and independent existence. The maternal and fetal endocrine systems play a critical role in the development of the early in gestation. They modulate various physiological organ systems and prepare the fetus for independent life after birth. This textbook is a systematic review of published research and review articles on the current knowledge of the physiological, biochemical and endocrinological changes in pregnancy, all viewed from a clinical standpoint.