Review of general surgery 1976.

IN this year's annual review of general surgery, the author has once again picked out a number of topics which appear to be particularly highlighted in current interest. These can be assessed by the bulk of publications dealing with them, their being featured as subjects for symposia and meetings, and the simple fact that they crop up in discussions when two or three surgeons are gathered together. Once again, however, we must confess that the topics here chosen also represent the narrow vistas and limited reading of the reviewer. This year we have elected to consider surgical diseases of the pancreas, abdominal pain in children, the complications of peptic ulcers, carcinoma of the breast and of the of the thyroid, wound healing and microvascular surgery. All but one or two of the references quoted were published in 1976.