Sabiston Essentials of Surgery

Rating:
Summary: Never read Schwartz, but....
Review: I bought the Sabiston 15th Edition for my surgery rotation and actually read a few pertinent chapters. There's usually a few pages with historical background info (a favorite of the chief) and then it jumps into etiology, diagnosis, techniques and treatments. I used a chapter on Ischemic Bowel Disease to present at Grand Rounds (gulp) to the entire Dept of Surgery at the Mt Vernon Hospital, NY and actually came off sounding competent. I supplemented my Neurological Surgery Observership at UCSF with the sections on neurosurgery and it served as a good PRIMER to the specialty. This book covers all aspects of the Surgical fields, including ENT, Ortho, Plastics, Thoracic, etc. The only real competition for this text is Schwartz. Take a look at both before deciding on which is best for you.

Rating:
Summary: A standard
Review: Sabiston contains both basic science and clinical information, but you'll still need both a basic science book (for more detail) as well as another clinical book (Cameron's is great) to get a more detailed and balanced exposure to the broad field of general surgery. As big, "standard" texts go, it's a good one. I think it has better detail in most sections than Schwartz. Some people prefer Greenfield's - I don't have that one, so can't comment. I have used Sabiston as my major reference through-out surgery residency, and can recommend it to you.