Essential Immunology For Surgeons

There has been a huge increase in the knowledge and understanding of the immunological processes involved in surgical practice in recent years. Anaesthesiologists and intensive care physicians are increasingly recognising the significant derangements of immune function in the critically ill patient and the possible therapeutic approaches to manage such patients (including new approaches in transplantation rejections, novel vaccination strategies in cancer treatment, as well as a better understanding of the beneficial effects of standard chemotherapy). Written by recognised experts in their field from both the UK and the US, and extensively referenced for further reading, Essential Immunology for Surgeons provides a concise, up-to-date, and readable account of immunology in general and its translation into key areas of clinical practice. It provides the necessary foundation for a critical understanding of this essential and rapidly expanding area of biological science that underpins and explains the modern concepts of a range of diseases and conditions, encompassing autoimmunity, infection, trauma, cancer, nutrition, organ transplantation, and various forms of therapy. Previously published as Immunological Basis for Surgical Science and Practice, this fully-updated textbook is aimed predominantly at the surgical trainee, but will also be of value to undergraduate and postgraduate clinicians of any discipline who wish to have a better understanding and knowledge of the subject, as well as to researchers studying the various core topics discussed in the book.

Previously published as: The Immunological basis of surgical science and practice, 1992.

Immunology is a rapidly developing subject. The contributors in this book present some components of immunological knowledge which relate to the present and the possible future practice of surgery. Aspects of cellular and humoral immunity necessary for understanding are described and considera tion given to the mechanisms underlying immunological diseases. Whilst the original interest in immune response was related to microbial resistance, the recent impetus to surgical immunology has been the resurgence of organ grafting. Separate sections of the book deal with clinical organ transplanta tion, the allograft reaction, graft rejection and immunogenetics. A pre-requi site of successful organ grafting is suppressive control of immune responses. Approaches to conventional immunosuppression and specific non-reactivity are therefore considered. One method of cancer therapy is strengthening of the host's immune responses. Both experimental and clinical immunotherapy are discussed and components of tumour immunology necessary for their rational understand ing are dealt with separately. Successful immunotherapy requires monitoring of immune responses but another method for improving results of cancer treatment is earlier diagnosis by immunological methods. The book is aimed at practising surgeons who want to know the relevance of immunology to clinical surgery and laboratory scientists needing to understand the applications of their basic concepts. I am very grateful both to the authors for their contributions and the editorial staff of MTP Press Limited, for their considerable help.

Immunology is a rapidly expanding biological science which provides an insight into a number of disease processes in surgical practice, such as cancer, sepsis, and trauma. It also lays the foundations for new and innovative therapy including cytokine infusions in cancer, and monoclonal antibodies in organ transplantation. This book is an up-to-date, concise, and lucid account of basic immunology and its relevance to the modern practice of clinical surgery. It is essential, not only for the surgical trainee, but also for the established surgeon, to keep abreast of developments in the "new biologies". This guide also gives a timely account of the impact of AIDS, provides an overview of the principles of common assays used in immunology, and contains a valuable glossary of terms used in immunology.