Intraoperative Ultrasonography in Hepato-Biliary and Pancreatic Surgery

In 1983 and 1984, I had the pleasure of being invited to Europe for the Cour- se of Hepatobiliary Surgery started by Professor Hepp and continued by Pro- fessor Bismuth. In these courses, I demonstrated many slides and movies of intraoperative echography that Makuuchi, one of my staff members, had made using the transducer that he was the first to develop. The topic of Intraoperative Echography had an enormous impact on the audience, and its use has since spread rapidly over the European countries, by virtue of the first Italian edition of Professor Gozzetti's book on Intra- operative Echography and Professor Bismuth's monograph on the same top- ic. I had been, therefore, unwittingly a very fortunate transmitter of intra- operative echography to Europe by means of Makuuchi's slide file. I am extremely honoured that the Italian Edition written by Gozzetti, Maz- ziotti and Bolondi has been dedicated to me. Also in this English Edition, Professor Gozzetti very kindly asked me to write a few words. It is an extra- ordinary pleasure for me to emphasize how this book is easy to read and understand, maybe by virtue of the profound Italian tradition of artistic expression since the Renaissance. On the other hand, a variety of series of intraoperative echographic images as well as resected specimens are arranged in an excellent manner.