ABSTRACT
Although local hospital registries may be common in most surgical departments and clinics, large multi-center registries have had limited application in surgical research. The exceptions are tumor registries which may contain information on patients that have received surgical treatment and trauma registries. Trauma regis tries are an excellent paradigm of large multi-center databases which have been used not only in the epidemiological description of injuries but also in the evaluation of trauma care. Results of studies based on trauma registry data have had a significant and direct impact on the evolution of trauma care.
