"Surgical Treatment - Evidence-Based and Problem-Oriented" is based upon a concept which the editors believe will become increasingly important in the preparation of clinical textbooks in the 21st century, namely that the quality of the evidence upon which currently accepted clinical practice is based needs to be assessed frankly and taken into account when recommendations for patient treatment are made.This volume's intention is to supplement rather than replace standard textbooks of surgery. It does not strive to be comprehensive, but does include most aspects of what is currently considered "general surgery" in the United States and a number of other countries. It is deliberately compact and designed to be used at the bedside by busy medical students, residents, and surgical practitioners.This volume is clearly international in its perspective with chapters authored by acknowledged experts from North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. It will be apparent to the reader that patient management in several areas of general surgery may still differ widely from region to region even in our ever more interconnected world, yet each author has been asked to assess rigorously the level of evidence upon which operative and non-operative treatment recommendations are made. As the quality of available evidence advances in a number of surgical areas, the editors believe that clinical management will perforce become more uniform in most countries.