1 When should your Acute Care Surgery (ACS) patient be admitted to the ICU or discharged from the ICU ? - A general review of ICU admission and discharge indications -- 2 Acute respiratory failure in the ACS patient - What are the indications for acute intervention? -- 3 Nuts and bolts of ventilator management - When is Invasive or Non-Invasive Mechanical Ventilation appropriate for your patient? -- 4 Principles of weaning from ventilatory support - When and why to wean, when to consider a tracheostomy -- 5 Circulatory failure/support in the ACS patient - What are the optimal methods of providing circulatory monitoring and support -- 6 Brain injury in the ACS patient - Nuts and bolts of neuromonitoring and management -- 7 Renal failure in the ACS patient - Understanding appropriate fluid management and renal replacement therapy -- 8 Acute hepatic failure in the ACS patient - Nuts and bolts of pathophysiology and therapy -- 9 Resuscitation and appropriate fluid therapy in the ACS patient - From pathophysiology to clinical practice -- 10 Blood therapy in the ACS patient - Choosing appropriate resuscitation and transfusion strategies -- 11 Coagulation derangements in the ACS patient - understanding prior anticoagulation therapy and addressing acute coagulopathy -- 12 Nutrition and Metabolic Support of the ACS patient - Understanding goals and ways to achieve them -- 13 Intra-abdominal hypertension, abdominal compartment syndrome and the open abdomen - Looking beyond basic pathophysiology, complications and therapies -- 14 Infectious complications in the ACS patients - Understanding appropriate antibiotic choice and utilization -- 15 Ongoing intra-abdominal infection requiring ICU care - prioritizing treatment decisions -- 16 Ultrasounds in the ICU - Nuts and bolts in the ACS patient management -- 17 Nuts and bolts of interventional radiology - a valuable adjunct for the care of ACS patient in the ICU -- 18 Ethical decisions and dilemmas in the ACS patients requiring ICU - Understanding when to start and when to stop -- 19 The ICU in mass casualty events - Changing priorities to meet ongoing demands -- 20 Care of the ACS patients in the low resource setting - How to make the maximum with the minimum.

This book provides the basis needed for a dialogue between intensivists and emergency surgeons regarding the management and monitoring of acute care surgery (ACS) patients who require Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission. It puts forward a practical approach to the treatment of common emergencies in daily clinical practice, and shares essential information on the treatment and monitoring of hemodynamic, respiratory, metabolic and neurological problems related to acute surgical patients requiring ICU admission. Furthermore, it includes two chapters regarding diagnostic and interventional radiology (fundamentals in daily emergency clinical practice), and addresses important issues such as ethics, mass casualty care, and care in low-resource settings. As such, the book not only offers a valuable guide for all practicing surgeons and intensivists, but is also relevant for residents and fellows who are newcomers to ACS.