Abstract
The first monograph from the Postgraduate Gastroenterology and Hepatology series is devoted to "ordinary" diseases of the digestive tract. Included are frequent clinical units which physicians of various specialisations, including general practitioners, are confronted with, and in which interdisciplinary cooperation is often necessary.
The experienced editors have chosen this topic for two good reasons - the first is that the "ordinary" is often neglected and not written about and often remains in the grey of routine clinical practice. The other reason is that many diseases and conditions are dealt with by physicians of multiple specialties who do not always speak the same language.
There are more reasons for that - they encounter the disease at different stages, some with findings that do not require more than simple monitoring of the patient, others already at a stage with life-threatening complications. The editors consider the issue of common diseases to be important and current, also because of the necessity of considering opinions of other experts.
More than 20 disease states were selected for the monograph, such as peptic ulcer, infectious gastroenteritis, coeliac disease, diverticular disease, cholelithiasis, haemorrhoids, irritable bowel, liver cirrhosis and steatosis, appendicitis, and colorectal cancer. The book may be particularly interesting for general practitioners, internists, gastroenterologists, surgeons, paediatricians and other specialties.