[Multiple and combined injuries to chest and abdomen as an unresolved surgical problem].

Peculiar features of surgical treatment of gunshot, non-lethal arm, and cold steel wounds are formulated based on the 20-year experience with managing 20,000 injured subjects having multiple and combined injuries to neck, chest, and abdomen of suicidal and criminal character. The growth in the number of patients with suicidal wounds and hemocontact viral infections (hepatitis, HIV) is emphasized. It is concluded that assessment of the state of gas exchange, lipid peroxidation, antioxidative, and immune systems does not give full idea of pathogenetic mechanisms of traumatic diseases.