The damage control approach

Abstract

Trauma surgery is just general surgery, but faster and under blood. - Anonymous As the majority of trauma resuscitation and operation was historically performed by general surgeons, the practice of trauma and surgical critical care developed slowly as a general surgical subspecialty by those with special interest in this patient population. Surgical procedures for injury care, therefore, have been based entirely on elective general surgical procedures. Hence, injury to the stomach would receive an operative approach similar to that of a perforated ulcer. This was gradually modified by war experiences. Patients from the war zone generally had massive destructive wounds, and there was also delay to definitive care. This resulted in the development of novel operative techniques for trauma, such as pyloric exclusion, which are gradually finding their way back into general surgery for severe diseases. © 2010 Springer-Verlag New York.