MANAGEMENT The history and physical examination give a very good indication of the presence of significant visceral injury. Initially, management should include simultaneous evaluation and treatment, and begins with ABC’s.1 The key factor in deciding the immediate management of a case of penetrating abdominal trauma is the patient’s haemodynamic stability.1 Regardless of injury type, if the pat...

Penetrating injuries account for 10% to 20% of all pediatric trauma admissions at most centers. Gunshot wounds are responsible for the overwhelming majority of penetrating traumatic injuries and have a significantly higher mortality rate than do blunt injury mechanisms. The management of penetrating injuries can be quite challenging and often requires rapid assessment and intervention. Specific...

BACKGROUND Initial management of solid organ injuries in hemodynamically stable patients is nonoperative. Therefore, early identification of those injuries likely to require surgical intervention is key. We sought to identify factors predictive of the need for nephrectomy after trauma. METHODS This is a retrospective review of renal injuries admitted over a 12-year period to a Level I trauma ...

• Bruit or thrill suggestive of a traumatic arteriovenous fistula • Expanding or pulsatile hematoma • Pulsatile or severe hemorrhage • Pulse deficit—pulses may be normal in patients with nonocclusive injuries that require surgical repair, such as intimal flaps or pseudoaneurysms • Thorough vascular and esophageal evaluation is required, even with minor neck wounds, if any abnormalities are evid...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this series is to report our experience in managing ureteral trauma, focusing on the importance of early diagnosis, correct treatment, and the impact of associated injuries on the management and morbid-mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS From January 1994 to December 2002, 1487 laparotomies for abdominal trauma were performed and 20 patients with ureteral lesions were id...

Penetrating abdominal trauma (PAT) is seen daily in our trauma ward. We present a retrospective study of the patients managed in our hospital (Polokwane Hospital, Limpopo) from January 1999 to March 2000. Epidemiology, mechanism of injury, patterns of injury, management, morbidity and overall mortality were recorded for analysis. Morbidity and mortality were commonly associated with peritonitis...

Spine immobilization in trauma patients suspected of having a spinal injury has been a cornerstone of prehospital treatment for decades. Current practices are based on the belief that a patient with an injured spinal column can deteriorate neurologically without immobilization. Most treatment protocols do not differentiate between blunt and penetrating mechanisms of injury. Current Emergency Me...

traumatic coronary artery-cameral fistulas (tcaf) are rare and may present secondary to penetrating injuries (80%) or iatrogenic traumas. early operative intervention remains the recommended treatment modality for accidental traumatic coronary artery fistulas. we report the case of a 17-year-old man who presented with left anterior descending coronary artery-right ventricle fistula following pe...

Introduction: Trauma is an injury that occurs due to the exchange of environmental energy with the body to an extent that is unbearable. In developing countries, such as Iran, trauma, especially abdominal trauma, has become increasingly important due to the enhanced development of vehicles and industries. The present study aimed to assess the frequency of intra-abdominal visceral injury due to ...

BACKGROUND Supine anteroposterior (AP) chest radiography is an insensitive test for detecting posttraumatic pneumothoraces (PTXs). Computed tomography (CT) often identifies occult pneumothoraces (OPTXs) not diagnosed by chest radiography. All previous literature describes the epidemiology of OPTX in patients with blunt polytrauma. Our goal was to identify the frequency of OPTXs in patients with...