TABLE OF CONTENTS Whilst the main thrust of this book is on the ways in which materials, especially plastics, can be used to solve problems in surgery and medicine, I felt it would be valuable particularly for those readers without a medical background to provide a general overview of the principal surgical procedures, and the ways in which surgeons have developed and improved their art.
It will then be possible to discuss specific techniques in later chapters, with particular reference to the materials used, and their contribution to the different procedures. Inevitably, in the space available and for this type of book, I can only attempt to cover this vast subject in very general terms. Also, for the same reasons, although pretty well every organ in the human body has been operated upon, I have confined myself to the more familiar areas of surgery, and for those where plastics and other man-made materials play an important part. Although I have included, in this chapter, as in others, references in the text, I have also at the end of the book-for the reader who wishes to study further added a selection of more specialised sources under "further reading". Some of these are books and papers, and others are Internet references.
I shall be covering the topics against a backdrop of the problems which have had to be overcome, together with the developments which have made advances possible, and will give some pointers to the ways in which progress might be achieved in the future. Also,...
