I N THIS ERA of an explosion of medical knowledge and its rapid and diverse dissemination, continuing medical education (CME) becomes an absolute necessity. Techniques, medications, and approaches to problems change with regularity. Moore’s Law, which notes that the computing power of silicon chips will double every 18 to 24 months, is but one example of how rapidly technical knowledge is moving. Further, it is apparent that most physicians obtain most of their CME from peer-reviewed journals. However, to meet the requirements of state licensing boards and now the recertification organizations, most practitioners leave their practices for varying periods, pay substantial fees and travel expenses, and return with certificates but often little in the way of positive input into their patient care responsibilities. Even this exercise is becoming more difficult, because the discretionary time of physicians is more limited by the demands of documentation imposed by health care organizations. Thus, as a service to our readers, we are pleased to offer, starting in this issue of the ARCHIVES, an opportunity to earn CME credit under almost ideal circumstances, that is, by reviewing timely, quality, clinically relevant articles at your convenience outside of work and without incurring additional cost. This is free Category I credit (up to 12 hours per year) and documentation is provided to you. All of the details regarding selection of articles, the educational objectives of each selection, and the manner of reader response can be found on pages 109 and 110. We remind you that medical education is a lifelong process, and the objective is continuous improvement of practice skills. With the introduction of this new feature, we are hopeful that we will provide CME that meets most of the criteria important to all practicing surgeons in our readership. We hope you will take advantage of this opportunity.