Surgery of Trauma

The editor in his preface denies that this is a textbook on the surgery of trauma. Maybe he is right, yet this work should be read by all surgeons responsible for the care of major injuries. Serious road accidents, and less frequently those occurring in the mining and building industries, are no respecters of the various anatomical systems into which surgery has been so neatly divided. One or many injuries can occur to any or many parts of the body in any one victim. Modern methods of resuscitation, if early and adequate, can prolong life, but they must be matched by equally early and adequate definitive treatment. This book rightly devotes approximately one-third of its text to injuries in those body areas most frequently associated with high mortality rates-that is, the head, chest, abdomen, and pelvis. Almost two-thirds of the book is concerned with function-saving surgery, and the remainder deals with general principles in the organization of accident services, resuscitation, and the prevention of accidents and infection. The difficult problems of early diagnosis in multiple injuries and the assessment of priorities in treatment are not considered, neither are the problems of surgical first-aid at the accident site or gentle and adequate ambulance transport to hospital. During the next decade or two serious road accidents will undoubtedly increase and so will the demand for further editions of this most valuable work. WILLIAM GISSANE.