Good trauma care requires a substantial knowledge base and clinical skill. The comprehension and intuition required to treat trauma injury is gained over many years of clinical experience at the bedside of critically injured patients. The aim of this atlas is to share the experience of the authors from the largest trauma center in the United States and provide a solid companion to the many well-written textbooks on trauma management.

This project represents many decades of collective clinical experience. We have assembled one of the largest collections of trauma images to help bring the reader “to the bedside” of the patients. The majority of the photographs originate from the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Trauma Center though some special photographs were donated from outside centers. The acquisition and final assembly of this collection of images was a difficult process and they were acquired with the gracious cooperation of our patients. We regularly use these images in our clinical teaching and hope this atlas will supplement other instructional resources in trauma management.