The current text has taken the first step toward this goal. These features place the outcome section in proper perspective and give the reader a better basis to judge the results. Conditions with long-term morbidity and even mortality, such as biliary atresia, diaphragmatic hernia, esophageal atresia, and short bowel syndrome, receive additional space in the text. I particularly like the six chapters devoted to Hirschsprung disease and anorectal malformation. These chapters provide an overview followed by discussion of results for individual operative procedures performed by a specialist with particular expertise.
Specialists then offer guidelines to long-term care based on their own preferences.
The chapters on Wilms' tumor distinguish the US perspective from the European experience, where there is a tendency to concentrate on preoperative therapies to reduce surgical morbidity, including tumor rupture. The overall results are remarkably similar. This text is useful required reading for pediatric surgeons, urologists, and health care specialists looking for guidelines on the proficiency of care provided in their communities. The field is well covered aside from trauma issues, which are limited to a discussion of liver and bile duct injury. Long-term assessment of behavior and cognition in the multiple trauma patient is very important, as more seriously injured children survive.