Flexible fiberoptic endoscopy has impacted virtually all aspects of surgical practice. Formerly, endoscopy was a diagnostic procedure used in conjunction with standard radiologic techniques. Flexible endoscopy has now assumed a therapeutic role that often obviates the need for operation. Endoscopic gastrostomy, common duct stone removal, volvulus reduction, and decompression of pseudo-obstruction of the colon are but a few examples of the ongoing conversion from operations to endoscopic procedures.
Surgical Endoscopy is a collection of presentations from a postgraduate symposium on surgical endoscopy held in Ann Arbor, Mich, in May 1985. Edited by three preeminent surgical endoscopists, with 56 contributors, it provides an in-depth review of current fiberoptic endoscopy of the gastrointestinal tract, biliary tree, and other systems, including bronchoscopy, arthroscopy, and laparoscopy. A short section on the teaching, cost, and practice of endoscopy concludes the text. Chapters on various endoscopic procedures include thorough descriptions of indications, techniques, complications, and each