{[['
']]}
']]}
Many excellent textbooks of surgery exist. Most of these are large, multiauthored, and have the distinct advantage of drawing on the experience of many surgeons with expertise in specific areas. The advantage, however, is often obtained at the expense of a unified approach and style that a book written by a single author can provide. In writing this book about gastrointestinal surgery, I use an integrated approach to discuss fundamental anatomy and physiology; then examine how normal function is altered by disease, i.e., pathophysiology; and finally, provide the clinical correlates. Based on these three pillars of understanding particular disease processes, I then discuss surgical treatment as a means of correcting the
abnormal physiology to restore health. I hope this approach will provide the reader a coordinated understanding that minimizes the need for rote memorization. I believe that, when the student understands normal physiology, how disease disturbs that physiology, and how surgical treatment might restore normalcy, one need not remember too many extraneous facts. Instead, a foundation of understanding is established that stays with the student even after the details are forgotten. The Jesuits have an attractive definition of culture as “that which remains after you have forgotten all you have learnt.” While I hope that the readers of this book will not totally forget all the facts they have learnt, the concept of a culture of understanding is, nevertheless, valid.
