This book offers an overview of acute care surgery around the world, focusing on the four main branches of this novel subdiscipline: trauma, general emergencies, critical care, and rescue surgery. The book's primary goal is to provide a general view of acute care surgery, while addressing the most important issues in depth.

The content is divided into three parts, the first of which is dedicated to the general organization of trauma centers, including the composition of modern trauma teams. Protocols of activation and action for the trauma team, as well as damage control procedures both in the emergency room and in the surgical theatre, are described. The book also addresses the development of a trauma registry, together with the quality assessment process that can be applied.

In turn, the second part describes the principal protocols for making diagnoses, with special attention to circumstances such as unstable hemodynamics, neurological deterioration, normal vital signs, and penetrating injuries. The book subsequently deals with the most important aspects of trauma to the abdomen, chest, and pelvis, with notes on both surgical and intensive care issues. Practical descriptions of how to treat principal injuries to various organs are also provided.

Finally, the third part of the book is dedicated to the most frequent general surgical emergencies and rescue surgical approaches, and includes information on diagnostic support with point of care ultrasound and endoscopic advanced techniques. Presenting cutting-edge strategies, this book will be of interest to professionals involved in surgical and intensive care for emergency conditions, such as colonic perforations, obstructions, acute pancreatitis, biliary tree stones, and caustic injuries.

Osvaldo Chiara is the Director of the Trauma Team and Scientific Coordinator of the Trauma Center at the Niguarda General Hospital in Milan, and a Full Professor of Emergency and Trauma Surgery at the State University of Milan. He is an American College of Surgeons ATLS instructor and Director of American College of Surgeons ATOM courses in Europe and participates in several cooperation projects for teaching and research with the Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, State University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA. His research interests include shock, trauma surgery, trauma system organization, open abdomen, and non-operative management in trauma.