"The success of the first edition of this volume has been very gratifying to see. In my travels, I have met literally hundreds of students, nurses, physicians assistants, and physicians who have told me that they had read The Little GI Book and how much it helped them learn the fundamentals of gastroenterology and hepatology. In the years since The Little GI Book was published, much has changed in the world of gastroenterology and hepatology. This can be seen both with regard to diagnosis and treatment of many gastrointestinal disorders. The following are just a few examples: Hepatitis C is, for all intents and purposes, curable at the time of this writing. The use and role of biologics and biosimilars to treat inflammatory bowel disease have exploded. The development of transluminal stents has given rise to a whole new class of endoscopic procedures that were previously unimaginable. Endoscopic submucosal techniques have allowed endoscopic submucosal dissection, peroral endoscopic myomectomy, and gastric peroral endoscopic myomectomy to become commonplace at many institutions. Advances like these, and many others, spurred me to produce a second edition of The Little GI Book. As I have gone through each of the chapters, I have added information on new diseases, new medications, and new procedures. Many new images have been added for this edition. I have also removed out-of-date material as well. In contrast to the first edition, all of the endoscopic images in this volume are now in color, which should make them even more useful. As with the first edition, I wrote this book with the broadest readership possible in mind. I know that, for many readers, this will be the first book on gastroenterology and hepatology they ever read, so I want to keep the tone and tenor of the book as accessible as possible. I hope that you find reading this book as enjoyable as I found writing it!"--