One might ask, "What are neurologists doing in a place like this?" in relation to a book on fetal medicine. However, as the editors noted in their preface, the field of neonatal neurology has expanded so much in the past decade that it is only natural that interest in fetal neurology would follow. Clearly, early fetal development is the "money area" where the foundations of all subsequent neurological integrity are laid. Also, with increasing knowledge that intrapartum events are far less important than earlier events in producing the unholy trinity of mental retardation, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy, neurological research and clinical efforts have logically turned toward the prenatal period to help increase our understanding of congenital neurological disorders in children.
This text, the fifth volume in the International Review of Child Neurology series, the official publications of the International Child Neurology Association, is divided into three major broad areas: antepartum