Advances in Surgical and Medical Specialties

The pace and sophistication of advances in medicine in the past two decades have necessitated a growing need for a comprehensive reference that highlights the current issues in medicine. Each volume in the Current Issues in Medicine series is a stand‐
alone text that provides a broad survey of various critical topics--all accomplished in a user-friendly yet interconnected format. The series not only highlights current advances but also explores related topics such as translational medicine, precision medicine, nanomedicine, regulatory science, neglected global diseases, emerging pandemics such as COVID-19, FDA and patent law, immunotoxicology, theranostics, big data, artificial intelligence, novel imaging tools and techniques, combination drug products, and novel therapies. While bridging the gap between basic research and clinical medicine, this series provides a thorough understanding of medicine's potential to address health problems from both the patient's and the provider's perspectives in a healthcare setting. Each volume is an excellent resource for medical practitioners, medical students, nurses, fellows, residents, undergraduate and graduate students, educators, venture capitalists, policymakers, biomedical researchers, and general readers. The multidisciplinary approach of the series makes it a valuable reference for health care systems, the pharmaceutical industry, academia, and governments. However, unlike other series on medicine or medical texts, this series focuses on current trends, perspectives, and issues in medicine that are central to healthcare delivery in the 21st century.

The first two volumes in this series focus on the current issues in basic medical sciences, subjects that are fundamental to the practice of medicine. These subjects, traditionally taught in the first two years of medical school that precede clinical instruction, provide a core of basic knowledge crucial for the success in clinical medicine during rotations, training, and medical practice. The subsequent volumes are dedicated to clinical topics in medicine. While recognizing how expansive and multifaceted medicine is, this volume is not a textbook that provides comprehensive information on medical specialties: It addresses crucial recent advances in surgical and medical specialties. Specifically, it integrates the knowledge and experience of experts from academia and practicing surgeons. Medical practitioners today continue to improve upon techniques and technologies to provide for safer, more precise, less invasive, and accurate procedures for patients--a direct consequence of advances in technological breakthroughs from a variety of medical and engineering fields. Hence, it is imperative that surgeons and medical practitioners stay current with these latest advances in their respective specialties to render modern patient care. Given this backdrop, the specific topics covered in this volume and the expertise of the contributing authors accurately reflect the rapidly evolving areas within surgical and medical specialties.