Practical guide of abdominal trauma in pediatric age

Abstract

Abdominal trauma in pediatric age is considered the second leading cause of death after traumatic brain injury. It requires for its diagnosis a high index of suspicion and its vital risk is conditioned by hemorrhage and peritonitis. With the purpose of standardizing in a guide the behavior in Cuba of pediatric abdominal trauma, a bibliographic review is carried out on the subject and the study of different casuistries of "Juan Manuel Márquez" Pediatric Hospital, which functions in turn as a provincial center of children's polytrauma of Havana; the guide is approved by consensus in the Cuban Society of Pediatric Surgery. The most frequent causes of abdominal trauma are: in the older children, traffic accidents and in the younger children falls from heights. In the anamnesis, the kinematics of the trauma and the impact surface are important. The physical examination should be evolutionary and the initial assessment should identify the life risk. In the diagnosis by images is considered essential the contrasted tomography which in our center is reserved for cases with diagnostic doubts and unsatisfactory evolution; ultrasound is very useful. Non-surgical treatment is prioritized in closed trauma with solid viscera rupture, provided that hemodynamic stability exists. Currently, damage control surgery has been shown to improve survival in patients with complex and exanguinating abdominal injuries.

Abdominal trauma; life-threatening; damage control surgery.