Open abdomen is encountered with increasing frequency in trauma and emergency surgery, and is often the price to be paid for saving severely ill or injured patients. The so called hostile abdomen is sometimes the unwanted consequence of open abdomen often associated with multiple reoperations where the abdominal cavity is open and scarred into one solid mass with fragile small bowel loops adhered to each other, often complicated with enteroatmospheric fistulae and retraction of the abdominal wall edges. It is important that surgeons treating these patients have a good grasp of the indications for leaving the abdomen open, various techniques and their pitfalls both at the initial stage when the abdomen is left open, as well as the later stage, when decisions about the fascial closure method and timing must be made. Not one solution is good for every patient. Therefore this book on open abdomen is timely, based on latest scientific knowledge and at the same time provides an excellent and practical overview of the various and complex aspects of the open abdomen.