Until recently, endocrinology and critical care medicine were two specialties in medicine that were rather uncomfortable with each other and hence quite i- lated. Fortunately, these two `alien' disciplines have joined forces in successful attempts to perform high quality research in order to clarify the unknown. By integrating endocrinology in critical care medicine, or vice-versa depending on the specialty of the observer, new experimental and clinical data on the complex endocrine and metabolic derangements accompanying non-endocrine severe i- nesses came available which generated important novel insights with relevant clinical implications. In addition, the state of the art diagnosis and management of primary endocrine diseases that represent life-threatening situations leading to ICU admission has been updated. This issue of Contemporary Endocrinology aims at compiling the new ?ndings. The book indeed covers both areas of `Acute Endocrinology' that are often taking care of at very distant sites within hospitals. The ?rst part deals with the classical life-threatening illnesses caused by primary endocrine diseases such as thyrotoxicosis, hypothyroidism, acute adrenal crisis, acute calcium disorders, pheochromocytoma, severe hyper- and hypoglycemia . The second part looks at endocrinology from the ICU side, starting with a g- eral overview of the dynamic neuroendocrine and metabolic stress responses in the condition of intensive care-dependent, non-endocrine critical illness.
