A Parent’s Guide to Cystic Fibrosis

1991
Authors:

Burton L. Shapiro and Ralph Heussner, Jr.

Explains the genetic causes and biological effects of cystic fibrosis as well as its social and psychological effects. Includes case histories and personal selections from a “family diary.”

Explains the genetic causes and biological effects of cystic fibrosis as well as its social and psychological effects. Includes case histories and personal selections from a “family diary.”

University of Minnesota Guides to Birth and Childhood Disorders Series


“The series...offers a uniformity and comprehensiveness not found in similar texts...I will recommend these guides to parents and families and I am confident that pediatricians, family practitioners, and nurse-practitioners working with children with chronic illnesses will find them very useful adjuncts to their practices.”

Donna M. Capin, M.D.
American Journal of Diseases of Children

The fourth volume in the University of Minnesota Guides to Birth and Childhood Disorders series explains in detail the genetic causes and biological effects of cystic fibrosis as well as its social and psychological ramifications. The authors describe how the body’s various systems - respiratory, digestive, reproductive, and musculoskeletal - respond to the disease, and they discuss the rationale behind the strategies employed to control it. Recent advances in treatment are summarized and a synopsis of some of the more promising research on the horizon is provided. Stressing a personal, informative approach, the authors have augmented the text with case histories and comments from parents and patients. An entire chapter is devoted to family life, and selections from a “family diary” round out the chapters.

Burton L. Shapiro is professor in the departments of oral science and laboratory medicine and pathology and the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Minnesota Health Services Center. Ralph C. Heussner, Jr., is a medical writer and editor at the University of Minnesota. He is author of Warning: The Media May Be Harmful to Your Health! A Consumer’s Guide to Medical News and Advertising and, with Henry H. Balfour, Jr., of Herpes Diseases and Your Health.

A Parent’s Guide to Cystic Fibrosis is one in a series of short, authoritative books designed to help parents and children, health-care professionals, and educators understand and cope with disorders that appear at birth or in childhood. The authors - leading specialists in diagnosis, care, and research - discuss the nature, causes, diagnosis, and treatment of the disorder, as well as ways in which the child can cope with it.

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