Abstract

MERILIEN, Fresner et al. Morbidity and mortality from abdominal trauma during four year-period 2007-2010. MEDISAN [online]. 2013, vol.17, n.3, pp.435-448. ISSN 1029-3019.

Introduction: injuries are the third cause of death in developed countries. In Cuba they represent the fourth and the first one in people younger than 50 years. Objectives: to characterize patients with abdominal trauma according to selected variables and to determine their status at discharge. Methods: an applied descriptive study was carried out in a sample of 346 patients with abdominal trauma (surgically treated or not), who were discharged from the Department of General Surgery of "Saturnino Lora" Provincial Teaching Clinical Surgical Hospital of Santiago de Cuba during the fourth-year period 2007-2010. Results: open trauma caused by stab wound and abdominal ultrasound as the most valuable diagnostic tool prevailed. Therapeutic laparotomies were performed in 61.2% of patients undergoing surgery due to injuries in liver, small bowel and spleen, for surgeries of hepatorrhaphy, intestinal resection and splenectomy, respectively. The most common complications were hemorrhagic shock (main cause of death) and infection of the surgical site. Conclusions: frequency of unnecessary laparotomies remains high and to prevent them it is recommended reducing the time between injury and surgery, which is critical to maintain the hemodynamic stability of the patient that allows conducting diagnostic studies (computerized tomography and videolaparoscopy) and the relevant treatments.

Keywords : abdominal trauma; injury mechanism; laparotomy; complications; hemorrhagic hypovolemic shock; morbidity; mortality; secondary health care.