The February 1997 Editors’ View, written by my Coeditor Dr. Meakins, listed a number of initiatives that we are planning in order to improve the Journal, both in content and relevance. Several new features were mentioned, including improved self-assessment sections, the surgical images section and, a new initiative for us, a “residents’ corner” section. A further new feature that I believe is of great significance is the institution in this issue (pages 169 to 174) of a regular section on surgical biology for the clinician.
As practising surgeons we are all aware that our efforts to have a positive influence on the outcome of illness or injury depend entirely on the biologic response of our patients to their illness or injury and our intervention. Biology in its broadest definition includes all responses of the organism to its environment; surgical biology narrows this focus to problems of particular interest to surgeons and surgical patients. Such fundamental processes as hemostasis, wound healing and the catabolic response to injury are better understood today because of our increasing understanding of biology. As the specialty of surgery branches out into illness and injury once considered untreatable, the appropriate intervention by surgeons and the anticipated response by the patient to surgical intervention will be predicted by basic biologic processes. A thorough understanding of the biologic principles that govern and limit our therapeutic interventions is essential for us to remain current in surgical thinking. It is therefore of tremendous importance to our readers that this regular feature on surgical biology comes to the Journal.
Dr. Meakins and I are grateful to Dr. Ori D. Rotstein for taking charge of the section on surgical biology for the clinician, and we look forward to continued contributions from him and his colleagues. Although it should be obvious to our readers, I would add that any basic science topic of interest to surgeons is of interest to the Editors of the Canadian Journal of Surgery, and we invite your submissions.