There was a time, long ago, when endoscopy was a small off-shoot of gastroenterology, and when most of what budding endoscopists needed to know could be covered in a slim book. Thus Practical Gastrointestinal Endoscopy was conceived by Christopher Williams and myself over 25 years ago, and had a successful run through four editions. The field has expanded enormously over that time. The number and variety of procedures, and the relevant scientific literature, have proliferated, and there is now a hierarchy within endoscopy. There are ‘standard’ procedures which most clinical gastroenterologists master during their training
