Abdominal Sepsis: A Multidisciplinary Approach

This book examines in detail the topic of sepsis, with a focus on intra-abdominal sepsis. Particular attention is devoted to source control in the management of the infection, antimicrobial therapy and sepsis support, which represent the cornerstones of treating patients with this problem. The importance of a multidisciplinary approach is highlighted not only by the instructive and informative sections on the acute manifestations of appendicitis, cholecystitis, and cholangitis, perforations and diverticulitis, Clostridium difficile infection and the role of candida in abdominal sepsis, but also by an extensive discussion of issues including antimicrobial resistance, damage control surgery, principles of antimicrobial therapy, hemodynamic support, adjunctive therapies, and thromboprophylaxis.

Abdominal sepsis is the host’s systemic inflammatory response to intra-abdominal infections. It is associated with significant morbidity and mortality rates, and represents the second mostcommon cause of sepsis-related mortality at intensive care units. Gathering contributions by authoritative experts from all around the world, this book will allow acute care surgeons, abdominal surgeons, intensive care clinicians, and students to broaden their understanding of intra-abdominal sepsis in daily clinical practice.

Dr Massimo Sartelli is Consultant Surgeon at the Department of Surgery, Macerata Hospital, Italy. He is author and co-author of 8 manuals of general-emergency surgery. In the last years he has devoted his updating to the study of surgical sepsis. He is deputy editor of the "World Journal of Emergency Surgery" and member of the Board of Directors of the "World Society of Emergency Surgery" (WSES).  In last years he coordinated WSES guidelines for management of intra-abdominal infections and soft tissue infections. He designed and coordinated three prospective studies describing the epidemiological and treatment profiles of patients with cIAIs worldwide.

Matteo Bassetti is Head of the Infectious Diseases Division of the Santa Maria Misericordia University Hospital, Udine, Italy. He is also Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases of the University of Udine. Dr Bassetti studied at the University of Genoa and continued his medical education at the Yale University School ofMedicine, New Haven, USA, with an Infectious Diseases fellowship. He also completed a PhD in Solid Organ Transplantation and Infectious Diseases at the University of Genoa. He is the secretary of the Infectious Diseases Group of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and chair of the Critically Ill Study Group of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). Dr Bassetti is also co-chair of the Intra-abdominal Infections Study Group and  secretary of the Bone, Skin and Soft Tissue Infections of the International Society of Chemotherapy (ISC).

Ignacio Martin-Loeches, PhD, FJFICMI is a full time Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Senior Clinical Lecturer & Research Director of the Multidisciplinary Intensive Care Research Organization (MICRO) at Trinity College, Dublin. Currently Vice-Chair of Intensive Care Medicine at St James’s University Hospital, Dublin. He has served as executive member for the European Diploma in Intensive Care (EDIC) and as Deputy for the Sepsis and Infection Section at the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM). He is the Chair of the Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Working Group “4SWG” and executive member of the research-working group of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC). He is the currently member of the Clinical Trials of Health Research Board in Ireland and the President of the Spanish Research Society of Ireland[(under the Embassy of Spain in Ireland and The Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT)]. He is principal Investigator of European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) grant and the European Network for ICU-related respiratory infections (ENIRRIs) under the European Respiratory Society (ERS). He has published several manuscripts in high impact factor journal and serves as section Editor at the Intensive Care Medicine (ICM) journal.