BOOK REVIEW
Review of the book "Vascular trauma"
Ricardo C. Rocha Moreira
Rossi Murilo (org). São Paulo: Revinter; 2006
Brazil has been living, for at least one generation, a war with no end in sight. The Brazilian civil war is fought in the traffic and in the outskirts of large cities and causes more victims than major open military conflicts, such as the Iraq or Afghanistan War. Traffic accidents kill or cripple more than 200,000 Brazilians a year. Violence associated with crime causes a few more tens of thousands victims, including police officers, drug dealers and innocent people living in slums. All these victims are registered in medical statistics as victims of trauma.
Trauma is the most frequent cause of death in human beings up to 40 years of age. Death mechanisms in trauma are brain and blood vessel lesions. Until the mid-20th century, blood vessel lesions were treated only by ligation of the affected vessel and limb amputation, when necessary. The treatment of vascular trauma started to change in the successive wars of the 20th century: the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War and, especially the Vietnam War. Experience of military surgeons was gradually transplanted to civil life as surgeons who worked in battlefronts started using the same techniques for the treatment of accident and urban violence victims.
By having to deal with the ongoing civil war in our large cities, Brazilian vascular surgeons have accumulated wide knowledge and experience in the assessment and treatment of this type of lesion. The book Vascular trauma is the written expression of such experience. Its editor/main author, Dr. Rossi Murilo, and many collaborators are vascular surgeons at Hospital Souza Aguiar, which has become, due to the circumstances, the main reference center for complex vascular trauma in Rio de Janeiro. It is only natural that the authors' vast experience has resulted in this book, which covers in depth all types of vascular trauma.
The book, which was printed on glossy paper, has a large size (30 x 21 cm), hard cover and 652 pages of lavishly illustrated text. It is divided into 13 sections. The first section presents basic knowledge on epidemiology, trauma mechanisms and surgical techniques. The following two sections cover the diagnosis and treatment of vascular trauma by radiological techniques. The core part of the book are the 32 chapters dealing with various vascular traumatic lesions, classified clinically and topographically. The final sections are dedicated to the intra- and postoperative care and to the management of complications.
The few criticisms that can be made to this book are some errors in captions, repeated illustrations and the quality of some photographs, which could be improved in a future edition. In general, however, the graphic quality of the book is excellent, and once again a book published in Brazil reaches the level of quality of the best international publications.
The book Vascular trauma occupies the space left by the natural aging of the book Urgências vasculares [Vascular urgencies], edited by Ristow and Perissé Moreira almost 25 years ago and never edited again. It is only fair that the new generation of vascular surgeons in Rio de Janeiro maintains the tradition of excellence in the treatment of vascular trauma.
In short, Vascular trauma represents another sign of maturity in Brazilian vascular surgery, which has now surgeons and services at an international level. This book is now the main reference in the management of vascular trauma in Brazil and should be in the library of any vascular surgery service and of all surgeons dealing with vascular trauma.
No conflicts of interest declared concerning the publication of this book review.
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
01 Aug 2008 -
Date of issue
June 2008
