Abstract
Objective: To establish the incidence of early postoperative infections after civilian injuries to the spleen, colon, or both and assess the effect of splenectomy on outcome.
Design: Retrospective study of case notes.
Setting: University hospital.
Subjects: 403 Patients of whom 353 had splenic injuries, 91 with associated colonic injuries, together with 50 randomly selected patients with colonic injuries alone.
Main outcome measures: Morbidity and mortality.
Results: 45 Patients had splenectomy and colonic injury (group 1), 46 had a colonic injury and the spleen conserved (group 2), 50 had colonic injury alone (group 3), 143 had splenectomy for injured spleen without colonic injury (group 4), and 119 had the spleen injured and conserved without colonic injury (group 5). Their mean age was 28 years. Overall mean Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 30.1, and Abdominal Trauma Index (ATI) 22.4. 68/403 died (17%), more than half within 48 hours. Early mortality was higher in both groups in which the spleen was removed but after stratification by ISS and ATI the differences were not significant. Late mortality (after 48 hours) associated with sepsis did not differ significantly among the groups, nor did the rate of infective complications. Mechanism and severity of injury had the most influence on morbidity and mortality.
Conclusion: Removal of an injured spleen does not have an adverse influence on the incidence of serious infective complications in the early postoperative period in patients with injuries to the spleen, the colon, or both.