Intra-Abdominal Solid Visceral Injuries in Adult Patients Presenting with Blunt Abdominal Trauma

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of intra-abdominal solid visceral injuries in adults presenting with blunt abdominal trauma (BAT) at a public sector tertiary care hospital in Karachi
Methods: The current descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at Department of Surgery Abbasi Shaheed Hospital during March 2016 to September 2016 after acquiring ethical approval from Hospital Committee. Total 165 patients were recruited into the study using non-probability consecutive sampling technique. Trauma was managed according to Advance Trauma Life Support (ATLS) guidelines. Laboratory and imaging investigation were done to make diagnosis and manage patients. Patients' characteristics including demographic details such as age, gender and clinical features were recorded on pre-designed profroma.
Results: Out of 165 recruited patients, 133 (80.6%) were males and 32 (19.4%) were female. Average age of study participants was 35.77 ± 13.95 years. Most of the cases occurred in patients having a low socioeconomic status (n=78, 47.3%). In a majority of the cases, mode of injury was road traffic accidents (n=92, 55.7%). 50(30.30%) patients got injury due to fall from height and 23(13.93%) cases occurred due to assault. The most common injured organ was kidney (n=60, 36.36%) followed by liver (n=57, 34.54%), spleen (n=47, 28.48%) and pancreas (n=34, 20.61%).
Conclusion: Careful attention to physical findings and proper sequencing of diagnostic tests is helpful in the appropriate decision making which may prevent associated morbidity and mortality in accordance with Advance Trauma Life Support (ATLS) guidelines.