Since surgery became a method of treating patients, progress in the field has been intimately associated with experimentation and serendipitous research. As in other clinical specialties advances in surgery can be considered to result from experimental attempts to increase basic knowledge and to improve technical skills. However, virtually in no other area do concepts and approaches of experimental research enter clinical routine as fast as in surgery. There are numerous examples of this. Thus, allocation of manpower and resources for surgical research can be considered particu- 1arly profitable as convincingly shown, for instance, in renal transplantation by comparison of the long-term burden of hemodialysis vs. kidney grafting, apart from the relief of suffering and misery. Surgery is a continuously spreading field, and so is surgical research. This volume is a case in point. Its spectrum reaches from basic molecular biological aspects of immune mechanisms to the current state of the art of pulmonary surgery of cancer metastases, and from the molecular processes of cell swelling in ischemic brain edema and blood-brain barrier damage to novel forms of resuscitation or of treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Surgical research faithfully reflects a constant reorientation of medical disciplines. Treatment of renal or gallbladder concrements was a major domain of surgery, where the introduction of extracorporeal shock wave treatment now supplies noninvasive, virtually conservative alternatives.

InhaltsangabeI. Surgical Pathophysiology: Ischemia and Reperfusion, Microcirculation, Tissue Damage and Repair.- New Aspects in the Formation of Vasogenic Brain Edema.- Neurosurgical Research In Vitro: Contradiction or Promise?.- Influence of the Inhalation Anesthetics Isoflurane and Enflurane on the Normal and Ischemic Myocardium.- Prostaglandin, and Thromboxane Release in Critical States.- New Perspectives in Resuscitation and Prevention of Multiple Organ System Failure.- Histological, and Hemodynamic Alterations Produced by Progressive Ligation of the Pulmonary Artery Branches.- A Model of Experimental Silicosis in a Compressed Air Environment.- The Role of Surgery in Cancer Metastasis of the Lung: Results and Trends.- II. Novel Technologies in Surgery and Medicine.- Extracorporeal Shock-Wave Lithotripsy of Gallstones.- Breakdown of Tumor Microcirculation Induced by Shock-Waves or Photodynamic Therapy.- New Treatment Concepts for Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus.- Computer Applications in Surgical Research.- III. Intestinal Immunology.- Immune System of the Gut.- Absorption of Macromolecules and Particles from the Gut.- Role of Immunology in Gastric Cytoprotection.- IV. Transplantation Immunology.- Some Observations on Organ Transplantation.- Clinical Developments and Current Immunological Research Approaches in Liver Transplantation.- Has Eurotransplant Fulfilled Its Promise?.- Hematological Cytology in Organ Transplantation.- Towards an Understanding of the Immunosuppressive Effect of Cyclosporin A.- V. General Immunology.- Host Antigen-Presenting Cells and the Induction of In Vivo Allograft Reactivity.- Immunogenetics of Chronic Arthritis in Childhood.- Anaphylaxis and Anaphylactoid Reactions.- The Major Histocompatibility Complex and T-Lymphocyte Response.- Class II Antigens of the Human Major Histocompatibility Complex.