Abstract
Objective: To study the pattern and management of both blunt and penetrating abdominal trauma as regard to postoperative morbidity and mortality.
Design: It was a retrospective analysis.
Materials and Method: This study was carried out from 2001 to 2002 in the Accident & Emergency Department, Lahore General Hospital, comprising of 100 patients.
Results: One hundred patients aged > 12 years with abdominal trauma were included in the study. The patients below 12 years of age and those who expired during resuscitation were excluded from the study. Out of one hundred patients, 88 were males and 12 were females with Mean +/- SD age of 26.0 +/- 8.5 years. The age ranged from 12 to 60 years. The commonest mechanism of injury in penetrating abdominal trauma was firearm. The less common mode of injury was impalement in 2 patients. In the blunt abdominal trauma, road traffic accident was the most common mode of injury. Thus sixty five patients had penetrating abdominal trauma and thirty patients were injured by blunt abdominal trauma. The mortality in this study was 1%.
Conclusion: It is concluded that management of abdominal injuries are good, applicable and cost effective with minimum morbidity and mortality.