Twelve contributors have written 11 chapters, an appendix, a glossary, and an index to provide an outline of current theory and practice in prenatal diagnosis. The chapter on maternal serum screening and prenatal diagnosis of birth defects deals with the well-established diagnostic methods and some of the important practical implications of the laboratory results, including turnaround time. However, the book quotes 2 to 3 weeks for amniocentesis results and, at least in the United States, this period has been reduced to 10 days.
Chapter 3 refers to sonography as a major method of prenatal diagnosis of birth defects and provides good illustrations of the selected defects. Chapter 4, on amniocentesis, chorionic villi sampling, and cordocentesis, and chapter 5, on cytogenetics and prenatal diagnosis, are also well written; however, as is frequently the case, multiple authorship leads to some repetitious paragraphs. The tips for collecting specimens are useful. Chapter 6 deals