Any book with the words percutaneous and interventional is immediately identified as one that brings to its readers a distillation of a number of new and exciting techniques. Percutaneous is not exactly a new word but it has come to take on an entirely new meaning in recent years. Interventional is a recent acquisition to medical language indicating an entirely new approach to many aspects of medical management. Exactly when is the right time to make a distillation of new thoughts and expertise requires something of the art of a master brewer. First the ingredients must be prepared, the recipe must be just right, there must be excellent quality control as well as the master brewer''s touch to produce the product when the time is right. Dr. Lang has assembled just the right ingredients in the form of a very impressive team of experts in these new fields of uroradiology and urological management. Ventures into percutaneous urology may date back 30 years but the main growth in the range of procedures and the development of the technology has occurred only in the last 10 years. Relieving upper tract obstruction seemed a natural sequel to renal biopsy but the imagination to develop an effective treatment for stones was an impressive extension of the concept of minimally invasive surgery.
