Performing a surgical operation could be compared to na- gating inside the human body. Two essential requirements are necessary for a successful apprenticeship: ? A perfect understanding of the roadmap, the anatomy ? Regular training with expert surgeon teachers showing str- egies, tactics, manoeuvres, and gestures to make the journey safe, efficient and fast For decades this was the way taken by apprentice-surgeons and also by surgeons already in practice concerned about upd- ing their knowledge. For years their only travelling companions were books, drawings, and pictures. However, printed...

-This volume commemorates the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists.

-It will be distributed on the occasion of the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists 2004 in Paris, France, where the idea of the establishment of WFSA was created.