Dr. Francisco del Piñal gained his MD from the University of Madrid in 1983, where he subsequently undertook training in plastic surgery before becoming a Fellow in Microsurgery in Melbourne, Australia, and a Fellow in Hand Surgery in Louisville, USA. He is currently Head of the Institute for Hand-Wrist and Plastic Surgery in Santander, Spain. In 2008-9, Dr. del Piñal was President of the European Wrist Arthroscopy Society and between 2007 and 2009 he was also Associate Editor of The Journal of Hand Surgery (European volume), having previously served on the editorial board. He is also currently on the editorial boards of The Scandinavian Journal of Surgery and the Journal of Hand and Microvascular Surgery. Dr. del Piñal has published more than 100 original papers and book chapters and presented some 500 presentations at national and international meetings. He was also the Editor in Chief of a previous Springer book entitled Arthroscopic Management of Distal Radial Fractures. Presently he is Editor of the Journal of Hand Surgery European Volume and holds the position of General Secretary of the EWAS.