This updated book continues the ABCDE chapter format from the second edition, incorporating an escalating level of diagnostic and management complexity and a concise bibliography in each chapter. It remains demarcated into two sections: the first (e.g. ABCDE chapters) equips surgical trainees in managing non-ICU-based patients, whilst the second provides a basic introduction to ICU care. The chapters introduce standard definitions, pathological processes, diagnostic features and common management plans. These are based on a range of updated recommended guidelines from NICE and SIGN and common ALS principles in critical care patients, as well as current ATLS® and CCrISP® standards. The most common causes of systemic complications in surgical patients are explained, e.g. updated sections on sepsis and major haemorrhage protocols, to name but a few. A must-have revision guide for all surgical trainees, from final-year medical students through to junior surgical registrars.

Mazyar Kanani is a Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Cardiac Unit, James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough. Simon Lammy is an ST7 neurosurgical registrar at the Institute of Neurological Sciences at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow.