[General surgery].

Injuries INJURIES TO THE LIVER are almost twice as common today as a decade ago. Although they continue to result in high morbidity and mortality rates, particularly when they are associated with other organ injuries, there has been a dramatic increase in the salvage of patients sustaining either blunt or penetrating damage to the liver. This improved survival in recent years is due primarily to an ever increasing awareness of the likelihood of liver injury in relation to the type of trauma, improvements in the general management of the severely traumatized patient, and appropriate and aggressive intraoperative techniques. The operation performed depends upon the extent of the liver injury and ranges from drainage alone to resective debridement combined with drainage and biliary decompression. EARL F. WOLFMAN, JR., M.D.