Surgeon-endoscopists and the assessment of postoperative patients.

There is a definite need for surgeons with an interest in gastrointestinal problems to develop and maintain expertise in gut endoscopy. In this article we emphasize the interpretation of symptoms in postoperative patients as a focal point, although other illustrations might be cited. While stressing the role of surgeons in this respect, it is essential to underscore the complementary roles of surgeons and physicians, and to emphasize that both disciplines' points of view are needed to determine the source of patients' complaints. The special awareness that a surgeon brings to the analysis of these postoperative problems results from a knowledge of postoperative patients in general, supplemented by an awareness of technical factors that might either influence the operation's success or explain a new symptom occurring in the postoperative period.