Prevalence of internal abdominal organs’ injuries in patients operated upon after blunt abdominal trauma

Abstract EN

Blunt abdominal trauma may result in multiple severe injuries which make the abdomen difficult to assess and easy to overlook.

Unrecognized intra-abdominal injury is a significant cause of preventable death in blunt trauma.

This study aimed to find the frequency and features of laparotomy findings for different internal abdominal organs’ injuries in patients subjected to blunt abdominal injury.

A total of 450 patients subjected to blunt abdominal trauma were admitted to the emergency surgical department of Sula mania Surgical Teaching Hospital following, 140 of them were decided to undergo exploratory laparotomy depending on their clinical and imaging findings that suggesting a visceral injury.

Thirty one percent of the patients who subjected to blunt abdominal trauma need exploratory laparotomy, 80.7% of them were male, and 67.9% were young.

The predominant causative factor of blunt abdominal trauma was the motor vehicle accidents.

Spleen and liver were the frequent injured solid organs.

Almost all of the patients had positive laparotomy results.

Traumatic head and neck injuries were the most common associated non abdominal injuries.

Morality rate was only 5% while complication rate was only 7%.

It is concluded that males at young active productive age are the main persons suffer from blunt abdominal trauma.

This has an important economic impact on the productivity of the community.

Spleen injury being the most commonly intra-abdominal solid injured organ followed by liver, other visceral structures are uncommonly involved.