Hunt & Marshall’s Clinical Problems in Surgery discusses common problems encountered in the clinical practice of surgery and how to solve and treat them. The approach of the text will be to encourage diagnostic economy, and to this end students will be assisted to develop skills in pattern recognition, appreciation of the natural history and prognosis of individual problems and their causative diseases, and an ability to come to the core of the patient’s presenting problem, while maintaining an holistic approach to the unique requirements of the individual patient. The text is designed to help the student understand the questions raised at each level of the of the diagnostic, therapeutic and overall decision making tree and thereby to construct an appropriate pathway of management for each clinical problem.

• problem oriented approach with clear pathways to problem solving in the clinical practice of surgery

• individual chapters describe methods of diagnosis and management for each presenting problem:

• Identification and definition of the clinical problem
• Consideration of common causes
• Comparison of patient’s problem with the usual clinical pattern of the common causes
• Review of less common causes
• Checking for associated problems
• Choosing diagnostic and treatment plans