Science and serendipity in colorectal surgery.

The article provides information about the papers presented during the meeting of the "Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine" concerning colorectal surgery in Great Britain. The first paper describes the end-to side technique for colorectal anastomosis. The second paper talks about preoperative weight loss and its impact on the postoperative outcome in inflammatory bowel disease. Another speaker provides a paper on the histology, pathology and clinical aspects of the anal transitional zone.