Few clinical disciplines have been transformed so dramatically by advancements in science and technology as gastrointestinal surgery. To begin with, modern ph- macology has virtually eliminated some kinds of surgery altogether. If one were to take a peek at a typical operating room schedule in a busy hospital of the 1960s, gastrectomies of one kind or another would have constituted a large block of the major surgeries. The advent of effective H2-histamine receptor antagonists and, more + + recently, the H ,K -ATPase (proton pump) inhibitors led to a precipitous decline in those procedures such that they are rarely performed today. Exciting new approaches to treating inflammatory bowel diseases and their complications—such as fistulas— with anticytokine therapy may one day have a similarly profound effect on surgery for this condition as well. Beyond pharmaceutics, advances in imaging techniques have greatly facilitated the identification and characterization of pathology in the gastrointestinal tract in a way that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago. Just to visualize the pancreas in some way was a horrendous task until abdominal ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, or computer tomography made it simple. The fact that the gut is a hollow organ that can be accessed through the mouth, anus, or even through the wall of the abdomen has been fully exploited with fiberoptic endoscopes that can bend around corners with ease and permit surgery to be conducted through them.

This new edition provides a comprehensive overview of procedures for the gastrointestinal tract. The volume describes the indications, contraindications, and precise method of a procedure, under normal anatomical conditions and when the gastrointestinal tract is surgically altered. In addition to revised chapters from the previous edition, the latest edition features new chapters that cover such topics as endoscopic accessories, cleaning and disinfecting gastrointestinal endoscopes, tissue sampling, removal of foreign bodies, and confocal endoscopy and robotic endoscopy. Each chapter is also accompanied by photographs, diagrams, tables, and algorithms to precisely and easily display complex information. Written by leading authorities from around the globe, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures in Gastroenterology: An Illustrated Guide, Second Edition is a valuable resource for gastroenterologists, primary care physicians, and gastroenterology fellows in training who treat and manage patients with gastrointestinal disorders.

Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures in Gastroenterology: An Illustrated Guide is a comprehensive volume describing procedures for the gastrointestinal tract in a simple way. Artistic illustrations are provided to educate the physician about procedures, and to provide not only clear descriptions of the changes in the anatomy and physiology, but also to provide advice on medical management of the post-procedure patient. Clear, detailed, artist-rendered illustrations of the anatomy are included as well as appropriate, radiological images. Chapters describe in detail the indications, contraindications, anatomical alterations, and physiological alterations that result from various operations and procedures. Comparisons between alternative operations, complications, medical management issues, and costs are also discussed. Diagnostic and Therapeutic Procedures in Gastroenterology: An Illustrated Guide is a unique volume, written primarily for primary care physicians and general internists. It is also suitable for medical students, residents, nurses and nurse practitioners, nutritionists, dietitians and various subspecialists, who take care of patients with gastrointestinal disorders.

Nutritional support of people with gastrointestinal impairment is critical to treatment and ultimately successful management. As such, gastroenterologists should be experts in nutrition and knowledgeable about the affects of nutrition on disease management. Nutritional and Gastrointestinal Disease fulfills that need, serving as a hands-on, practical reference in nutrition support for the clinical gastroenterologist and other clinicians with similar interests. The volume offers expert nutritional knowledge and management ideas as well as methodology for combating problems such as short bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease and obesity. Renowned authorities also investigate nutrition’s influence on such issues as liver failure and acute pancreatitis. While gastroenterology training programs around the world remain deficient in their nutrition curriculum, Nutritional and Gastrointestinal Disease provides a comprehensive and groundbreaking support for clinical gastroenterologists.

Liver Transplantation: Challenging Controversies and Topics grew out of a need I perceived within the fields of transplant hepatology and liver transplantation. Liver transplantation has rightly gained recognition as an established therapy for end-stage liver disease. Few would argue that liver transplantation is one of the few truly lifesaving and life-altering treatments within medicine and surgery. Not many realize that 20 years passed from the time of the first human liver transplantation in 1963 to its acceptance as therapy by the 1983 NIH Consensus Conference on Liver Transplantation. In 2008, 25 years will have passed since the 1983 NIH conference—a mere 25 years for a field that has provided patients hope, doctors options, and to some the “gift of life. ” Many issues in liver transplantation involve indications, patient selection, and outcomes after transplantation—these are standard topics, covered by textbooks of hepatology and transplantation. In contrast, the field of liver tra- plantation is young, evolving, dynamic, and issues and decisions are often controversial. Thus, Dr. Trotter and I, as well as our colleagues at the University of Colorado, felt that a text with a different focus was required, one that highlighted controversy and challenged dogma. Out of this perceived need emerged Liver Transplantation: Challenging Controversies and Topics. To meet the transplant community’s need for emerging information about liver transplantation, Dr. Larry Chan, Dr. Igal Kam, and I initiated the Controversies in Transplantation Conference.

One of the most vivid memories from my medical school training was seeing my first surgical operation on a patient with Crohn’s disease. The senior surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, the same institution at which Burrill Crohn, Leon Ginzburg, and Gordon Oppenheimer had first described the disease “terminal ileitis,” had - doubtedly done countless operations on patients with inflammatory bowel disease in the past. Yet as we both gazed down into the patient’s open abdomen, at the “creeping fat” that seemed to be wrapping its sticky fingers around the young man’s intestines, he stated, “this is the m- tery of Crohn’s disease—no two patients are ever the same. ” What is it about the inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis, that we find so intriguing? Is it the young age of the patients, many who are younger than even the medical students - tending to them? Or is it the elusive etiology, the theory of a “mystery organism” that has yet to be identified? Perhaps it is the familial pattern of disease, where many patients have relatives with similar diseases, yet in some instances only one of a pair of identical twins is affected. Regardless of the cause, these chronic diseases with a typically early age of onset, result in a long-term commitment of the patient, their fa- lies, friends, health care providers, researchers, employers, and even health care insurers and other health-related industries.

Diseases of the pancreas have been extremely difficult to study. Until relatively recently, the pancreas was viewed by surgeons as an organ to be avoided, given its deep retroperitoneal location and the sometimes severe consequences of manipulation. Similar difficulties have plagued careful study of the pancreas. In humans, only inf- quently have we had the opportunity to evaluate the evolution of d- eases of the pancreas; instead, we are confronted with end-stage chronic pancreatitis or acute pancreatitis with extensive necrosis of the gland. Within the past decade, revolutionary techniques in molecular biology, genetics, and animal models have begun to give us dramatic new insights into pancreatic disease. Coupled with these advances has been a slow but steady progress in the development of our clinical tools for diagnosing and treating pancreatic diseases. These advances place us on the threshold of a much more complete understanding of pancreatic diseases, opening up new opportunities for novel therapies and preventive measures. Pancreatitis and Its Complications brings together many of the world’s experts in pancreatic diseases. These “pancreatologists” include basic scientists, endoscopists, gastroenterologists, and surgeons. The ch- ters have been organized to provide a comprehensive discussion of acute and chronic pancreatitis, with up-to-date discussions of pat- physiology, epidemiology, diagnostic strategies, treatment, and c- plications of disease. It is hoped that this text will serve as a useful reference for clinicians as well as provide a clinical background for scientists with an interest in pancreatic or related diseases.