In 1983 and 1984, I had the pleasure of being invited to Europe for the
Cour- se of Hepatobiliary Surgery started by Professor Hepp and
continued by Pro- fessor Bismuth. In these courses, I demonstrated many
slides and movies of intraoperative echography that Makuuchi, one of my
staff members, had made using the transducer that he was the first to
develop. The topic of Intraoperative Echography had an enormous impact
on the audience, and its use has since spread rapidly over the European
countries, by virtue of the first Italian edition of Professor
Gozzetti's book on Intra- operative Echography and Professor Bismuth's
monograph on the same top- ic. I had been, therefore, unwittingly a very
fortunate transmitter of intra- operative echography to Europe by means
of Makuuchi's slide file. I am extremely honoured that the Italian
Edition written by Gozzetti, Maz- ziotti and Bolondi has been dedicated
to me. Also in this English Edition, Professor Gozzetti very kindly
asked me to write a few words. It is an extra- ordinary pleasure for me
to emphasize how this book is easy to read and understand, maybe by
virtue of the profound Italian tradition of artistic expression since
the Renaissance. On the other hand, a variety of series of
intraoperative echographic images as well as resected specimens are
arranged in an excellent manner.