The advent of a syllabus for the FRCA examination, itself a requirement of the STA, seemed to me to provide an ideal opportunity for a dedicated revision textbook. It will therefore be of no surprise to readers that this volume mirrors closely the syllabus for the primary FRCA in both structure and content.

Having enlisted the willing help of my two co-editors, Tim Smith and Ted Lin, we set about recruiting authors to contribute. Chapter authors have been chosen for their ability and known prowess as teachers and a deliberate policy of not inviting ‘usual’ contributions from frequently seen names was taken. Having said that, several primary examiners appear as contributors and within each chapter coverage of revision topics has been kept as appropriate to the examination as possible.

To reduce the variability that is the bane of multi-author texts I have personally edited every chapter to ensure consistency of style and it is a reflection of the workload involved that it has taken three years to complete this project. I am grateful to all contributing authors for their tolerance and good humour during alteration of their golden prose.

Whilst no single book can cover the entire syllabus as a ‘one stop’ aid, the majority of material covered in the examination is detailed within these pages. Some items lately included in the syllabus, after completion of the manuscript, will be added in future editions (such as the anatomy pertaining to ankle block).