The Oxford Textbook of Medicine provides all that any doctor needs to know to practise top-level internal medicine. It gives comprehensive coverage of the epidemiology, aetiology, and mechanism of disease, as well as clear, unambiguous coverage of the diagnosis, practical management and prevention of the entire spectrum of medical disorders.

There are major introductory sections on the scientific basis of disease; and in the system-based clinical sections genetic predisposition, pathophysiology, pathogenesis, molecular mechanisms, and cell biology are covered in depth for all significant medical syndromes. Clinical descriptions of diseases are clearly and memorably written, based on the experience and insight of the authors, many of whom are among the world's most distinguished medical scientists. Chapters are not only evidence based but also based on clinical experience and a thorough survey of all the relevant literature. Throughout, the approach of OTM is humane and ethical and, at the same time, factual, reliable, honest (especially where knowledge is limited) and rigorously scientific.

The new editorial team has ensured that the OTM continues to reflect rapid changes in medical practice: there are new sections on intensive care, alcohol and drug abuse, clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, world health, clinical trials and evidence-based medicine, adolescent medicine, sports medicine, and emergency medicine; more than half the contributors are new for this edition; and most of the text has been heavily revised. The striking new page and cover design reflect the significant changes made in this new edition.

Contents/contributors
1. On being a patient
2. Modern medicine: foundations, achievements, and limitations
3. Global patterns of disease and medical practice
4. Molecular mechanisms of disease
5. Immunological mechanisms
6. Principles of clinical oncology
7. Infection
8. Chemical and physical injuries and environmental factors and disease
9. Principles of clinical pharmacology and drug therapy
10. Nutrition
11. Metabolic disorders
12. Endocrine disorders
13. Medical disorders in pregnancy
14. Gastroenterology
15. Cardiovascular medicine
16. Critical care medicine
17. Respiratory medicine
18. Rheumatology
19. Diseases of the skeleton
20. Nephrology
21. Sexually-transmitted diseases and sexual health
22. Disorders of the blood
23. Diseases of the skin
24. Neurology
25. The eye
26. Psychiatry and drug-related problems
27. Forensic medicine and the practising doctor
28. Sports and exercise
29. Adolescent medicine
30. Geratology
31. Palliative care
32. Reference intervals for biochemical data
33. Practical management of common emergencies