Closing Remarks

The lack of acceptance and penetration of fast-track principles as the best standard of care for hip and knee Arthroplasty was probably the main driver in starting this book project. The idea for this book already originated years before we finally started writing it. The perceived enthusiasm demonstrated by many colleagues during conferences and the uncountable interesting papers published on Fast Track resulted in optimized patient care by preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative optimization. These were the significant incentives to start this book. However, with the increasing pace of how literature is published on many orthopedic topics, we had a clear and vital mission to ensure that the book is not already out of date by the time it is printed. We addressed this through the writing style, focusing on practical aspects with a sound scientific base.