Human Reproduction: Conception and Contraception

This single volume attempts to summarize pertinent literature of human conception and contraception. To accomplish this difficult task, the authors and contributors divided 33 chapters into five major divisions. The first, parameters of human fertility, brings together basic knowledge regarding spermatogenesis and oogenesis, gamete transport, fertilization, implantation, and the reproductive life cycle. The second section, fertility inhibition, contains clinically oriented chapters on ovulation detection, female barrier contraceptives, intrauterine devices, sterilization of men and women, termination of pregnancy, and the oral contraceptives. It is of interest that on page 347 the association of oral contraceptives and thromboembolism is rejected, whereas on page 555 we find "the reality of association between drug use and a significant increase in both mortality and morbidity from thromboembolic disease." Consequences of fertility inhibition constitute the third division of the text, covering such interesting topics as metabolic and vascular effects of oral contraceptives and consequences of termination