This edition is devoted to benign gastrointestinal diseases and provides an in-depth discussion of many lesions, both common and uncommon. It is, for the most part, organised by category of disease rather than by anatomic site. This approach allows for comprehensive coverage of each entity and avoids redundant descriptions of lesions that occur in multiple regions of the gastrointestinal tract.

Each disease entity is discussed from the point of view of its demographics, pathophysiology, clinical features, gross and microscopic pathology, and treatment. The text is heavily illustrated with diagrams and gross and microscopic photographs. Because of the extreme importance of clinical and endoscopic correlation with interpretation of gastrointestinal pathologic specimens, a practising gastroenterologist has been included among the authors. He has added endoscopic pictures and provides clinical insights critical to the understanding of gastrointestinal diseases.

In many areas, the authors refer to animal models of disease since these have become powerful tools for understanding gastrointestinal diseases. They also discuss some of the molecular alterations that are present as these provide an understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease. Finally, the authors discuss the genetic predispositions to gastrointestinal diseases that occur as a result of genetic loss, mutation, overexpression of genes, or genetic polymorphisms.