Toxic Trauma

David Baker is a visiting professor at Harvard Medical School and a visiting senior lecturer of medical toxicology at King’s College London. Dr. Baker studied medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and has worked as a consultant in anaesthesia for SAMU, the Paris emergency medical service at the Necker University Hospital, specializing in the management of mass toxic incidents. He has been a board member of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine and has consulted for the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The author of numerous scientific publications, Dr. Baker is currently researching the management of pulmonary injury following toxic agent inhalation as well as the provision of early ventilatory support following toxic respiratory failure.

• Introduction.- Toxic trauma:  an historical perspective.- The classification and properties of toxic hazards.- Exposure to toxic hazards.- Responding to chemical releases: essentials of organization and incident management.- The pathophysiology of toxic trauma.- The clinical presentation of toxic trauma:  assessment and diagnosis.- The treatment of toxic trauma.- The longer-term consequences of toxic trauma.- Preparing for toxic trauma.- Toxins.- Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards: an overview and comparison.- Appendices.