The development of accurate hormonal assays in recent years has evoked much interest in the area of anaesthesia and surgery. In an effort to allow an exchange of ideas and new information in this area, the First International Symposium on Endocrinology in Anaesthesia and Surgery was held in Bonn during September 1978. The contents of this book represent much of the information presented by the leading authorities in this field. The presentations were grouped in three areas: 1. Basic problems of endocrinology in anaesthesia and surgery; 2. The response of the endocrine system to anaesthesia and surgery; 3. Hormone and anaesthetic management of endocrine disease. As with any multi-authored text, there is both repetition and diversity but hopefully the reader will be able to obtain much of the useful information. As Editors, we wish to express our deep appreciation to Profes- sor R. Frey and Springer-Verlag for including this book in the series on "Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine". H. Stoeckel T. Oyama Table of Contents I. Basic Problems of Endocrinology in Anaesthesia and Surgery H. Breuer Basic Principles Regulating the Endocrine System . . . . . . . .. 3 G. Wesemann and E. Grote Pathophysiology of Intra- and Postoperative Stress .. . . . . .. 10 M. Trede Surgical Treatment of Endocrine Disorders .. . . . . . . . . . .. 24 T. Oyama Influence of Anaesthesia on the Endocrine System ... . . . .. 39 L. Nocke-Finck Radioimmunological Determination of Hormones.