Outcome of Conservative Management of Solid Visceral Injury in Blunt Trauma Abdomen

Abstract

Background: Blunt trauma Abdomen (BTA) due to RTA is the sixth leading cause of death in India. Conservative management of most blunt abdominal injuries developed from the observation that most of these injuries would ‘heal themselves’ and that operative intervention could interfere with this process.
Aim: To evaluate the outcome of conservative management of solid visceral injuries in BTA.
Design: Prospective observational study.
Methods: Study conducted in the Postgraduate Dept. of Surgery, Govt. Medical College Jammu entailing 72 patients of BTA admitted from October 2018 to November 2019.
Results: Out of 72 patients, 56 males were & 16 females. 69.44% had RTA. Most common age group was 21-30 years (30.56%).56.94% patients reported to hospital within 2 to 6 hours. FAST was positive in 95.83% patients. Liver was most commonly affected solid organ. 77.77% were managed conservatively and average hospital stay was 9.78 days. 4.16% patients of BTA expired in the study.
Conclusion: In almost all the solitary solid visceral injuries with mild to moderate hemodynamic changes, Non Operative Management (NOM) is highly successful. It is concluded that all the isolated solid visceral injuries must be given fair chance of NOM where facilities of medical care or surgical ICUs are available for continuous monitoring.