Surgery: Basic Science and Clinical Evidence - Second Edition (Repost)

This book brings a fresh approach to the already strong group of comprehensive textbooks in general surgery. As its title states, it emphasizes the basic science underlying the practice of surgery and the evidence supporting clinical decisions. The book tells the reader not only how to perform surgery, but why. It is a textbook and not an atlas or history of surgery, but the authors do illustrate operations with clear-cut drawings, and they document important historical landmarks.
The first section, "Care of the Surgical Patient," consists of chapters on the science underlying the practice of surgery today. Shock, inflammation, nutrition, fluid and electrolyte balance, and other basic-science topics are comprehensively discussed by first-rate, mostly mid-career academic surgical scientists. Surgical science also appears in the clinically oriented sections of the book – on gastrointestinal and abdominal disease, endocrine surgery, vascular surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, transplantation, and oncology. The sister fields of general surgery – such as plastic surgery and pediatric surgery – and the associated disciplines of orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, and other specialized fields are also well covered. The text is clearly written, and the chapters are well illustrated. There is also a unique feature: several hundred evidence-based tables. These tables allow the reader to reach conclusions on the basis of data rather than on the basis of individual authors' experience or opinions. Another feature I like is the accompanying CD-ROM (enclosed inside the back cover of the book). This disk contains all the references cited in the book and allows the reader to call up the desired reference and, when specific Internet connections are used, often the abstract and even the complete article as well.
At first, when reading this large book at home in an easy chair under a soft light, I found the type small and the weight of the book a burden. Later, in the bright light of my office and with the book resting on my desk, the legibility was fine and the weight not a problem.
Considering that the seven editors chose 130 authors to write the 93 chapters, there is some variability within the book. Overall, however, the book hangs together, with its strong basic-science orientation and its emphasis on evidence-based decision making. The vast amount of material included in the book makes it fairly priced at $119.
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