DOC-20160920-WA0018

PREFACE
A training in surgery is very much an apprenticeship
and requires the trainee to spend long
periods in the operating theatre, observing what
is done and assisting other surgeons to do it.
When it is judged your time to perform the operation
you will be assisted by someone more
senior for the first few occasions. After that you
may well be on your own and although you will
be familiar with the basic manoeuvres of the
operation, there will be nobody to remind you
of the order in which they are done and to point
out the tricks which can make the operation
easier to perform. Our book is an attempt to remedy
this by serving as an aide memoire to which
you can refer before commencing an operation.
Very few of the procedures are original for they
have been accrued over many years from colleagues,
both senior and junior. Nor are these
operations exclusive, for there are many variations
that give just as good results. The techniques
described here are those that we have
come to prefer and continue to practise.
Unlike other books on operative surgery, this one
is designed to be portable to allow you to carry
it on your person whilst going about your daily
duties.
To achieve this goal, the text has been kept to a
minimum and only the more important aspects
of each operation are discussed. As a consequence
the diagnostic features of the condition
and appropriate preoperative investigations, although
important, have been omitted.
The scope of the book is aimed to cover the period
from the first basic surgical training post up
to the third year of the specialist registrar training.
As such it covers many operations .regarded
by the trainee as being mundane but which are
often poorly performed.
We have chosen not to include proprietary
names of sutures or eponymous instruments (unless
one is invaluable) as there are many alternatives
available.
M. E. Foster
G. Morris-Stiff 2000
iii