this book. He reviewed magazine and newspaper articles, readscholarly journals, and conducted many interviews with Dr.Lillehei’s patients, their families, his family, and colleagues.Thus, the author has been able to create a rich tapestry of thepatients and surgeons involved in the development of openheart surgery. In particular, Dr. Lillehei, who is described as“hardly a saint” and lived by the motto “work hard, play hard,”is not depicted as a faultless genius, but as an extraordinaryindividual on an extraordinary quest with ordinary faults.

Miller does not dwell on Dr. Lillehei’s life as a youth or as anold man, but focuses primarily on his years of trial and error inperfecting open heart surgery in the laboratory and in the op-erating suite at the University of Minnesota. Miller uses Dr.Lillehei as a lightning rod to catch the excitement and contro-versy that circulated throughout surgery in the experimentalyears of open heart surgery. Most surgeons will enjoy the nu-merous allusions to the competitiveness and secretiveness sur-rounding the research, as well as the truly altruistic approachemployed by some researchers. Unfortunately, competition andsecrets often breed resentment, which can result in long-stand-ing grudges. Nothing fosters resentment like success and fame.Dr. Lillehei attained both at high levels. The later portions ofthe book deal with the disappointments Dr. Lillehei suffered ashe sought to progress both personally and professionally afterhis achievements in his earlier years. Miller does not apologizefor Dr. Lillehei’s choices, nor does he place blame on the insti-tutions for which he worked or the government that prosecutedhim for income tax evasion.

All surgeons seem to share a common respect, if not an in-terest, in the origins of our art. Perhaps this heightened aware-ness originates from how closely surgery resembles an appren-ticeship, with the master instructing the novice. I vividly recallas a medical student the chief resident on the surgical servicerecounting the surgical lineage that went before him when hetaught me how to anastomose bowel. Following in this vein,this book chronicles the astounding successes and bitter disap-pointments of one of our great surgical leaders, who taught thediscipline of surgery to countless surgeons.

TODD MILLER, MDDepartment of SurgeryLehigh Valley Hospital

Allentown, PennsylvaniaPII S0149-7944(01)00536-0

Surgery: Basic Science and Clinical EvidenceNorton J, Bollinger R, Chang A, et al, eds. New York,NY: Springer-Verlag; 2001, 2170 pp, $119.00.

Basic Science and Clinical Evidence is the first comprehensiveevidence-based surgical text written for the practicing surgeon.As such, it most adequately fills a void. This book provides thereader with current literature reviews and associated direct ap-plications to clinical practice, as well as concise summaries ofsurgical physiology and anatomy. In this era of medical care,

CURRENT SURGERY • Volume 59/Number 2 • March/April 2002

which demands efficiency and accountability, this text providesan excellent foundation for the treatment of surgical ailments.

The text consists of 93 chapters, which are separated into 8sections—Care of the Surgical Patient, Gastrointestinal andAbdominal Disease, Endocrine Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Car-diothoracic Surgery, Transplantation, Cancer, and AssociatedDisciplines. There are 22 chapters dedicated to the basic scienceof surgery demonstrating the commitment of this text to pro-viding adequate coverage of the scientific basis of surgery. Onechapter discusses evidence-based surgery—what it is, why it isimportant, and how to practice it. Other sections are similar tothose one would find in any established textbook of surgery,with the exception that each paragraph in this text is based uponfactual clinical evidence. Also unique, the reader will find diffi-cult questions concerning various surgical areas in most chap-ters. These difficult questions are answered with concise sum-maries supported by the current available literature. Forexample, “Who should be considered for antireflux surgery?”and “Does antireflux surgery prevent progression of metaplasticchanges?”

The chapters are very well organized, easily readable, andadequately referenced. Multiple headings and subheadings di-rect the reader to the appropriate material, as well as guide thecasual reader through vast topics. Graphs, diagrams, clinicalpictures, radiographs, and diagnostic studies are found in nearlyevery chapter. There are more than 1,000 black and white il-lustrations in this text which aid in the visualization of surgicalanatomy and technique. The accompanying CD-ROM pro-vides point and click access to nearly all the clinical literature insupport of the chapters. These links direct the user to an onlinemedical catalog where abstracts of the articles can be viewed orthe entire article can be ordered through one of the variousonline providers of medical literature. One of the most usefulfeatures of this text, and an interval part of every chapter, is themultitude of tables that accurately and succinctly convey clini-cal research evidence as it applies to the particular topic beingdiscussed. The surgical clinician can consider confidently vari-ous surgical options, knowing the body of literature available tosupport each arm of the decision making process. The text is aninvaluable reference for both the practicing surgeon or the sur-gical resident in training.

Overall, I believe this text not only fills a void in the surgicalliterature but prefaces a new type of surgical decision-makingtextbook. The direct application of scientific principles to theentire scope of surgery is a daunting task, which the authorshave performed well. This text has managed to successfullyconvey the correct surgical treatment options based on clinicalevidence, while also providing the reader a rich reading experi-ence on the basics of surgery.

CHRISTOPHER LEWIS, DODepartment of SurgeryLehigh Valley Hospital

Allentown, PennsylvaniaPII S0149-7944(01)00500-1

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