Placental Pathology

The third Fascicle of the Atlas of Nontumor Pathology offers a concise guide to understanding the placenta; a unique organ involving both mother and child during pregnancy. The book, Placental Pathology, is divided into fourteen chapters and an appendix. It includes the structure and function of the normal placenta and then proceeds to review the major disorders and lesions, which occur as complications of a normal pregnancy and delivery. The monograph includes not only pathology authors but also an obstetrician and radiologist who present an expert comprehensive review of diseases of the placenta. It is therefore a valuable reference for all three specialty groups in this field. ABOUT THE NEW SERIES "NON TUMOR PATHOLOGY" For several years, various individuals in the pathology community have suggested the formati on of a new series of monographs concentrating on this particular area. In 1998, an Editorial Board was appointed and outstanding authors chosen shortly thereafter. The pur pose of the Atlas is to provide surgical pathologists with ready expert reference material most helpful in their daily practice. The lesions described relate principally to medical non-neoplastic conditions as exemplified by our first three Fascicles on endocrine, pulmonary, and skin diseases. Many of these lesions represent complex entities and when appropriate, we have included contributions from internists, radiologists, and surgeons. This has led to some increase in the size of the monographs but the emphasis remains on diagnosis by the surgical pathologist. Previously, the Fascicles have been available on CD-ROM format as well as in print. In order to provide the widest possible advantages of both modalities, we have formatted the print Fascicle on the World Wide Web. Use of the Internet allows cross-indexing within the Fascicles as well as linkage to MedLine. We believe that the Atlas of Nontumor Pathology will serve as an outstanding reference for surgical pathologists as well as an important contribution to the literature of other medical specialties.