Reviews and Notes: Human Immunodeficiency Virus: Surgical Problems in the AIDS Patient

Surgical Problems in the AIDS Patient

Samuel E. Wilson and Russell A. Williams. 296 pages. New York: Igaku-Shoin; 1994. $75.00.

This is actually a textbook, not just of surgery, but of manifestations of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) that may produce the need for surgical therapy. The first chapter reviews the history of AIDS. The last two chapters, "Occupational Exposure and Risks for HIV Infection in Surgery" and "Prevention and Prophylaxis of the Operating Room Staff" are sure to be among the most interesting to those who are exposed to patients' blood in one way or another. The American College of Surgeons' statement in 1991 iterated that "surgeons have the same ethical obligations to render care to HIV-infected patients as they have to care for other patients." Likely to be of interest to surgeons and to physicians who refer patients to them. The appropriate advice to and suggestions for the care of the accidentally exposed worker is up-to-date as of the publication date, May 1994.