Acute Care Surgery

Acute Care Surgery (ACS) consists of trauma, critical care, and emergency surgery. An ACS service provides trauma and emergency surgical coverage for urgent, time-sensitive surgical conditions to patients who are injured or have life-threatening or potentially life-threatening emergency surgical conditions.

ICU surgeons treat a high volume of critically ill patients who present with complex surgical emergencies. We support other surgical services in two distinct surgical (SICU) and thoracic intensive care units (TICU), providing critical care to cardiac, thoracic, and emergency general surgery patients with respiratory failure, sepsis, and
cardiac issues requiring advanced monitoring and therapies.

At Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, the SICU and TICU teams employ the latest surgical techniques, innovative systems of care, and a team-based culture necessary for around the clock attention to our patients. They treat a high-volume of critically ill patients who present with complex surgical emergencies including bowel obstruction, perforated diverticulitis, peptic ulcers, bowel ischemia, appendicitis, and cholecystitis. In addition, the team provides critical care to our cardiac, thoracic, and emergency general surgery patients experiencing respiratory failure, sepsis, and cardiac issues requiring advanced monitoring and therapies.