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A REVIEW OF INTESTINAL INJURY FROM BLUNT ABDOMINAL TRAUMA
Author(s) -
Munns Janelle,
Richardson Mark,
Hewett Peter
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.111
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 0004-8682
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-2197.1995.tb00576.x
Subject(s) - medicine , diagnostic peritoneal lavage , laparotomy , blunt , surgery , perforation , medical record , blunt trauma , general surgery , abdominal trauma , materials science , punching , metallurgy
Eighty‐five patients who suffered blunt trauma to the small intestine and/or to the colon were treated at either the Royal Brisbane Hospital (RBH), Brisbane, Queensland or the Flinders Medical Centre (FMC), Adelaide, South Australia, between 1980 and 1991. Data were collected by retrospective review of case notes from the medical records departments of both hospitals and analysed with respect to the cause, the anatomical distribution, the diagnostic methods and the mortality of these injuries. There were 129 intestinal injuries (44 colonic and 85 small bowel). Five (5.9%) deaths were recorded. Seventy‐two patients (84.7%) were injured in vehicular accidents. Fifty‐three patients (62.4%) underwent laparotomy based on clinical findings alone. Diagnostic peritoneal lavage (DPL) was used in 24 cases and was positive in 22 (91.7%). The most common small bowel injury was ‘blowout’ perforation on the antimesenteric border of the bowel (55.5%). The most common colonic injury was a serosal tearbruise (62.2%).