The biochemical response to tissue injury can be considered a combination of the local events occurring within the area of injury and the systemic response induced by the local injury through humoral and neuroendocrine pathways.
Tissue injury is an inevitable component of the process of living. Acute episodes of infection, infarction, external trauma, or elective or emergency surgery are common events. Survival depends upon the ability to handle both the local injury and the complex chain of responses set into motion by it.
Surgeons accept the responsibility for the care of most patients suffering from accidental tissue injury and many types of infection and vascular occlusion. In addition, surgery creates, of necessity, injury to a wide spectrum of body tissues. Surgeons must have an extensive practical knowledge of both local tissue response, and of the complex of systemic reactions that patients undergo when injured.
Preoperative preparation, intraoperative monitoring and support,