The basis of the art of medicine, which has been practiced for thousands of years, is to first take an anamnesis by listening to the patient's complaints, and then examine the patient with inspection, palpation, auscultation and percussion. Especially in the last 20-25 years, the rapid development of computer technology has put the examination in the background in the doctor-patient relationship, and as a result, Opinions and criticisms that the doctor moves away from his patient and starts making a diagnosis without examining him are intensively discussed in scientific circles today. These developments should never eliminate the centuries-old rules of the doctor's examination of his patient in the 4 stages we mentioned above.

During our student and assistant years, there were almost no examination books written in the field of surgery. Our late teacher Prof. from Ankara University Faculty of Medicine General Surgery Clinic. Dr. The book titled "Examination Procedures and Disease Findings in Surgery", written by Orhan Bumin and published in 14 editions, should be considered the first work in this field. In those years, while thousands of medical students and surgical assistants were serving their patients throughout Anatolia, this book became a guiding light for them.

In the long years that have passed, no new surgical examination book of this caliber has been written. Meanwhile, diagnostic methods such as endoscopic interventions, imaging ultrasonography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance and mammography have taken their place in daily use.

In the light of these new developments in surgical education, it had become a necessity to write a new book specific to us. This very important task was carried out by my esteemed colleagues Prof. from Mersin University Faculty of Medicine. Dr Süha Aydın, Assoc. Tamer Akça and Assoc. Dr. Tahsin Çolak undertook the responsibility by publishing the book "Diagnosis and Physical Examination in Surgical Patients".

I would like to thank them for bringing such a work, which is entirely ours, to the surgical community in our country, where the importance of student-centered education is just beginning to be perceived .

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