In the first three installments of this new surgical atlas, authorities discussed their favored operative techniques for treating disease of the abdominal cavity. Because of new printing technology, descriptions and illustrations of these operative technics can be updated by "expansion, modification, and alteration." For example, the section on "Operations for Morbid Obesity" now includes only ileal bypass and gastric bypass operations. Future updating could add the gastroplasty procedures and perhaps eliminate the ileal bypass, which most surgeons have abandoned. Subscribers can thus replace the old material with new.
Throughout this copiously illustrated atlas, the authors incorporated the newer stapling techniques, when applicable. In general, this book lives up to its title: it emphasizes the modern. Yet, even seasoned surgeons will enjoy reading about some perhaps new wrinkles in older procedures. In reviewing his technique for truncal vagotomy, Dr Moody does not mobilize the left lobe of the liver; he emphasizes