Abdominal trauma: an analysis of 827 patients

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study is to examine the patients who were brought to Emergency Medicine Department of Erciyes University School of Medicine due to the abdominal trauma and treated with nonoperatively or operatively by the surgical department in the light of relevant literature data.
Material and Method: Between the years 2000-2005 years, patients were retrospectively evaluated according to the following criteria: age, gender, cause of trauma, accompanying other system traumas, treatment methods, complications and mortality rates.
Results: During the study period, of 827 patients who admitted to the emergency department due to the abdominal trauma, 72.3% were male and 27.7% female with ages ranging from 16 to 89 years. 333 patients had blunt abdominal trauma and 494 patients penetrating abdominal trauma. 34.3% of them treated surgically where as 65.7% had nonoperatively. There was no significant difference between mortality rate and injury type (p>0.05), also sex (p>0.05), whereas the mortality rate was higher in patients undergone operation (p<0.05). There was no relation between age and mortality in both of the trauma groups (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Great majority of abdominal trauma patients, especially solid organ injuries, can be treated conservatively. Morbidity and mortality rates can be reduced by a prompt diagnosis and treatment.