The Illustrated Guide to Microsurgical Techniques in the Rat (with elements of surgical anatomy) could serve as the manual of a microsurgery class. It is addressed to surgeons who want to learn microsurgery, while taking a class or working on their own in some laboratory, in order to use microsurgery in research or clinical practice. The elements of surgical anatomy present in the text are rather necessary because the microscope is going to magnify this lack of knowledge.