The third edition of General Thoracic Surgery has been enlarged, in an attractive format, to 19 sections with 100 chapters. Most of the work is presented under new or expanded authorship. Updated discussions on preoperative diagnostics include coverage of computed axial tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, flexible endoscopy, and physiologic assessment of esophageal disease. Chapters on pulmonary neoplasms, infections, bullous diseases, congenital lesions, pulmonary resections, and tracheal surgery are all well presented. The review of lung transplantation highlights the recent very positive accomplishments in this important area of thoracic surgery.
The trauma section is brief although adequately referenced, with an added chapter on the adult respiratory distress syndrome. The section on esophageal surgery now includes discussions on the cervical esophagus and better illustrations of esophagogastrectomy and replacement options. There are good overviews on adjuvant therapy, including radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy; inclusion of the topic of small-cell cancer in this section seems