BOOK REV I EW
Re v ie w of t h e b ook " V a scu la r t r a u m a "
Rica r d o C. Roch a M or e ir a
Brazil has been living, for at least one generat ion, a war wit h no end in sight . The Brazilian civil war is fought in t he t raffic and in t he out skirt s of large cit ies and causes m ore vict im s t han m aj or open m ilit ary conflict s, such as t he I raq or Afghanist an War. Traffic accident s kill or cripple m ore t han 200,000 Brazilians a year. Violence associat ed w it h crim e causes a few m ore t ens of t housands vict im s, including police officers, drug dealers and innocent people living in slum s. All t hese vict im s are regist ered in m edical st at ist ics as vict im s of t raum a.
Traum a is t he m ost frequent cause of deat h in hum an beings up t o 40 years of age. Deat h
m echanism s in t raum a are brain and blood vessel lesions. Unt il t he m id- 20t h cent ury, blood vessel lesions were t reat ed only by ligat ion of t he affect ed vessel and lim b am put at ion, when necessary. The t reat m ent of vascular t raum a st art ed t o change in t he successive wars of t he 20t h cent ury: t he First and Second World Wars, t he Korean War and, especially t he Viet nam War. Experience of m ilit ary surgeons was gradually t ransplant ed t o civil life as surgeons who worked in bat t lefront s st art ed using t he sam e t echniques for t he t reat m ent of accident and urban violence vict im s.
By having t o deal wit h t he ongoing civil war in our large cit ies, Brazilian vascular surgeons have accum ulat ed wide knowledge and experience in t he assessm ent and t reat m ent of t his t ype of lesion. The book Vascular t raum a is t he writ t en expression of such experience. I t s edit or/ m ain aut hor, Dr. Rossi Murilo, and m any collaborat ors are vascular surgeons at Hospit al Souza Aguiar, which has becom e, due t o t he circum st ances, t he m ain reference cent er for com plex vascular t raum a in Rio de Janeiro. I t is only nat ural t hat t he aut hors' vast experience has result ed in t his book, which covers in dept h all t ypes of vascular t raum a.
The book, which was print ed on glossy paper, has a large size ( 30 x 21 cm ) , hard cover and 652 pages of lavishly illust rat ed t ext . I t is divided int o 13 sect ions. The first sect ion present s basic knowledge on epidem iology, t raum a m echanism s and surgical t echniques. The following t wo sect ions cover t he diagnosis and t reat m ent of vascular t raum a by radiological t echniques. The core part of t he book are t he 32 chapt ers dealing w it h various vascular t raum at ic lesions, classified clinically and t opographically. The final sect ions are dedicat ed t o t he int ra- and post operat ive care and t o t he m anagem ent of com plicat ions.
The few crit icism s t hat can be m ade t o t his book are som e errors in capt ions, repeat ed illust rat ions and t he qualit y of som e phot ographs, which could be im proved in a fut ure edit ion. I n general, however, t he graphic qualit y of t he book is excellent , and once again a book published in Brazil reaches t he level of qualit y of t he best int ernat ional publicat ions.
I n short , Vascular t raum arepresent s anot her sign of m at urit y in Brazilian vascular surgery, which has now surgeons and services at an int ernat ional level. This book is now t he m ain reference in t he m anagem ent of vascular t raum a in Brazil and should be in t he library of any vascular surgery service and of all surgeons dealing wit h vascular t raum a.
Rossi Murilo ( org) . São Paulo: Revint er; 2006.
