Operative Surgery, Head and Neck consists of two volumes in the series of surgical atlases covering various specialties under the general editorship of Rob and Smith. The title of these two volumes is somewhat misleading, however, because the main thrust of the text is plastic reconstruction of the patient with a head and neck tumor, not methods of tumor ablation.
There are numerous techniques portrayed for repairing skin defects, providing intraoral or pharyngeal lining, and performing mandibular reconstruction after segmental or hemimandibulectomy. Composite resection of intraoral or pharyngeal tumors receives limited attention, however, as do methods for maxillectomy. Marginal mandibulectomy, a technique that obviates the need for mandibular replacement in most patients, is not even mentioned. The discussions of radiotherapy, chemotherapy, pathology, and anesthesia are also so brief and superficial that they are of little use to most readers. The multiplicity of authors involved in the atlases creates confusion. Thus,