Inflammatory dieseases of the pancreas occur with increasing incidence in western industrialized countries. This volume deals with all aspects of CHRONIC PANCREATITIS including epidemiology, etiology, morphology and pathophysiology, dia- gnostic imaging as well as conservative and operative treat- ment. Very recent data based on experimental and clinical research projects are presented. The contributions have all been written by a team of internationally well recognized authorities in the various fields involved. Topics of parti- cular interest include feed-back regulation, new aspects of conservative and interventional treatment as well as modern surgical approaches including organ-preserving procedures.

These proceedings of an international meeting held as recently as December 1996 cover diagnostic procedures in pancreatic disease, together with the progress made over the last 10 years in treating acute and chronic pancreatitis as well as pancreatic cancer. The meeting also covered standards in medical and surgical treatment.

This book deals with all aspects of surgery of the pancreas. The leading authorities from all over the world have contributed to this volume. Surgery of acute pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic malignancies is demonstrated. This book defines standards for pancreaticand general surgeons. In addition all aspects of diagnostics, pathophysiology and basic scientific data with regard to pancreatic disease are presented.

Drug-induced mucosal damage is of immense importance in gastroenterology. It is imperative that clinicians understand how these lesions come about, what the sometimes devastating consequences are and what can be done to prevent or to treat such calamities. Drug-induced damage is bound to increase in the future as the population ages and polypharmacy becomes the rule instead of the exception. Hopes for improvement were shattered when the long term consequences of COX-2 inhibition became available. Is the COX-1/COX-2 concept truly obsolete? Several issues are discussed by European experts in the second part of the book. What the clinician should know about non acid, weakly acid or biliary reflux is discussed in depth. Novel developments of gastrointestinal neuropathies and motor disorders concentrate on IBS, pseudo-obstruction and faecal incontinence. Our surgical colleagues will certainly be interested in novel minimally invasive procedures. Finally all will learn from a critical analysis of novel diagnostic imaging modalities.

Gastrointestinal Oncology is an expanding field with important medical, scientific, socio-political and ethical challenges. In the last few years, the discipline has undergone changes in our knowledge of tumour biology, diagnosis and treatment. The rate of progress in some gastrointestinal malignancies as oesophageal adenocarcinoma or malignancies of the rectum is dramatic, in other malignancies as pancreatic carcinoma or not. It is generally accepted that the management of these tumours deserves a multidisciplinary approach. Our current understanding of the management of these tumours is the specific focus of this two-day interdisciplinary Postgraduate Course.

John Libbey Eurotext continues to publish the proceedings of the gastroenterology seminars taught by leading European specialists and organised by the European Association for Gastroenterology and Endoscopy (EAGE). The aim of the book is to describe major clinical and therapeutic progress observed during 2002: gastrooesophageal reflux disease, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, colon cancer, liver cancer.