employedtechniquesforabdominalandanorectalsurgery.Allof thechaptershavebeenwrittenbyinternationallyacclaimedexperts,each ofwhomwasgivenliterarylicensetoallowthebooktobemorecreative andlessrigorouslyformatted.Althoughsometechniquesareself­explanatoryandtheauthorsthereforeconcentratedtheirverbiageupon resultsandcontroversiessurroundingaparticulartechnique,other proceduresaredescribedinamorealgorithmicmanner.Specifically, sometechniquesrequireamuchmoreheavilyweighteddescriptionof preoperativeand/orpostoperativeparametersratherthanintraoperative variables.Thematchingofillustrationsandvideoshasalsobeentailored tosuittheneedsofeachchapter.Becauseofthequantityofmaterial,the bookisdividedintotwovolumes:onethatincludestheabdominaland theotherthatincludesanorectalprocedures.Whilemanytextbooksvie fortheattentionofsurgeonsintrainingandsurgeonsinpractice,the Masteryseries,editedbyDr.JosefFischer,hasestablisheditselfasthe resourceforexpertmanagementofeachtheme.Therefore,thisbookwas deliberatelycraftedtoaugmentratherthantoreplaceseveralother excellentrecentlypublishedtextbooks.Itisourhopethatthesevolumes beusedinthatcontext,sothatthereadercanlearnthefundamentalsand basicsusingmanyotherexcellentsourcematerialsandthenrelyupon theMasteryofColorectalSurgerybooksformoreclarityintermsof reviewofveryspecificprocedures.Inthatsamemanner,thesebooks performareadypreoperativeresourcebeforeembarkinguponindividual procedures.