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This edition, appropriately updated from a strong first edition, is a fine treatise on the current treatment of abdominal trauma. It is comprehensive and provides a practical surgical approach for the house officer as well as the surgeon in practice. It is generously illustrated, providing significant value as an anatomic guide to operative treatment. The chapters on assessment and diagnostic workup of torso injury are particularly good because of their practical approaches. Those areas are updated, with fine discussions of the advantages and limitations of peritoneal lavage, computed tomography, and ultrasonography. Recommendations for application of these complementary techniques are based on published data and clinical experience.
The chapter on resuscitation emphasizes the clinical assessment of the circulation and also provides an interesting discussion of the laboratory and clinical results obtained with hypertonic saline solutions. The schemes and algorithms for the treatment of different injuries accompanying most of the chapters greatly