Book Review

Digestive Tract Surgery: A text and atlas

N Engl J Med 1996; 335:1774-1775December 5, 1996

Article

Digestive Tract Surgery: A text and atlas
Edited by Richard H. Bell, Jr., Layton F. Rikkers, and Michael W. Mulholland. 1662 pp., illustrated. Philadelphia, Lippincott–Raven, 1996. $195. ISBN: 0-397-51344-5

This multiauthored textbook and atlas on digestive tract surgery in adults is for the benefit of both future and practicing general surgeons. It contains substantial information about the diseases for which digestive tract surgery is intended, the indications for the operation, and the possible adverse consequences of operative therapy. It also answers practical and technical questions surgeons face before entering the operating room. The editors, who understand well the needs of surgeons, provide readers with a new kind of text and atlas. It is a book prepared by surgeons for surgeons.

The book consists of a comprehensive discussion of common digestive disorders and detailed illustrations of “modern” operative techniques. It contains 1662 pages, half text and half atlas, and seven parts, on the esophagus; stomach and duodenum; biliary system; liver; pancreas; small intestine; and colon, rectum, and anus. The topics include disorders of motility and inflammatory, degenerative, neoplastic, and traumatic lesions of the digestive organs. Most of the 43 chapters provide information on epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical features, differential diagnosis, preoperative evaluation, and alternatives to surgical therapy. The atlas covers surgical anatomy, approaches, and conventional and new high-technology techniques, including 10 accepted laparoscopic techniques. The concise, logical chapters emphasize a pragmatic approach to the problems surgeons of the digestive tract encounter. The tables, illustrations, and algorithms enhance the text substantially. A few illustrations of technique are repeated (i.e., those of Delorme's procedure and internal sphincterotomy). The artistic skills of the illustrator, Holly R. Fischer, and her understanding of surgical anatomy are admirable.

This book should belong to the personal library of general surgeons who operate on the alimentary tract, because it provides good coverage of both surgical principles and technical matters. Other physicians would benefit from the up-to-date diagrams of the operations their patient may undergo. Junior residents may find an atlas of a wider variety of operative procedures more practical and economical than this one, and the classic textbooks of surgery are mandatory for preparing for board certification. It is difficult to compare this book with classic or more comprehensive surgical atlases or textbooks, because it strives to combine both. The editors were ambitious and succeeded in achieving their goals. A resident who focuses on surgery of the digestive tract will find this book helpful and easy to read because of the high quality of its presentation, organization, and content.

Jacques Heppell, M.D.
Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ 85259