J Trauma

Missed diaphragmatic injuries and their long-term sequelae.

Reber PU. Schmied B. Seiler CA. Baer HU. Patel AG. Buchler MW.
Department of Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, Inselspital, University of Bern, Switzerland.
BACKGROUND: Blunt or penetrating truncal traumas can result in diaphragmatic rupture or injury. Because diaphragmatic defects are difficult to diagnose, those that are missed may present with latent symptoms of obstruction of herniated viscera. METHODS: A chart review of all patients admitted with late presentations of posttraumatic diaphragmatic hernias from 1980 to 1996 was undertaken. RESULTS: Ten patients with posttraumatic diaphragmatic hernias were treated in this specified period. There were six males and four females with a mean age of 65 years. Eight patients sustained blunt truncal traumas and two patients sustained penetrating truncal traumas. The hernias occurred in two patients on the right and in eight patients on the left side and contained the liver (n = 2), bowel (n = 10), stomach (n = 4), omentum (n = 5), or spleen (n = 1). The time until the hernias became clinically symptomatic ranged from 20 days to 28 years. In all but one patient, either routine chest roentgenograms or upper gastrointestinal contrast studies were diagnostic. All 10 patients underwent laparotomy (n = 9) or thoracotomy (n = 2) with direct repair of the diaphragmatic defect. One patient died 3 days after the operation, representing a mortality of 10%; the morbidity was 30%. CONCLUSION: Initial recognition and treatment of diaphragmatic rupture or injury is important in avoiding long-term sequelae.

Traumatic pulmonary hernia: surgical versus conservative management.

Francois B. Desachy A. Cornu E. Ostyn E. Niquet L. Vignon P.
Intensive Care Unit, Dupuytren University Hospital, Limoges, France. vignon@unilim.fr
The therapeutic management of lung herniation, an uncommon complication of severe blunt chest trauma, remains controversial. We report here on two cases of traumatic lung herniation with different, yet successful, methods of therapeutic management according to the particular anatomic types. Because of the threat of tension pneumothorax, incarceration, or strangulation of the lung parenchyma in mechanically ventilated patients, surgical reduction of intercostal pulmonary hernias with narrow necks is usually recommended. In contrast, supraclavicular pulmonary hernias secondary to clavicle-sternal dislocation may be treated conservatively with serial clinical and thoracic imaging follow-up including chest computed tomographic scan. In this anatomical type of lung herniation, favorable spontaneous evolution is frequently observed, presumably because of the presence of a larger thoracic wall defect together with the absence of associated perforating bone trauma. The efficacy of the therapeutic approach proposed herein remains to be confirmed by further experience.

Vaginal evisceration resulting from a water-slide injury.

Year 1998
Avidor Y. Rub R. Kluger Y.
Department of Surgery and Rabin Trauma Center, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
A case of vaginal evisceration resulting from sliding on a water chute is described. The treatment and mechanism of this rare injury are discussed.

A prospective study of omeprazole suspension to prevent clinically significant gastrointestinal bleeding from stress ulcers in mechanically ventilated trauma patients.

Year 1998
Lasky MR. Metzler MH. Phillips JO.
Department of Anesthesiology, University of Missouri, Columbia 65212, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To prospectively evaluate the incidence of clinically significant bleeding, side effects, and cost of therapy in mechanically ventilated trauma patients at high risk for stress ulcers who received simplified omeprazole suspension (SOS). METHODS: Prospective, evaluative study in a Level I trauma center. Mechanically ventilated trauma patients admitted with at least one additional risk factor for stress ulcer development received SOS for stress ulcer prophylaxis. RESULTS: Sixty trauma patients were enrolled. The mean Injury Severity Score was 27.3. After starting SOS, there were no cases of clinically significant upper gastrointestinal bleeding related to stress ulceration. Baseline pH was 3.3, and mean gastric pH after SOS was increased to 6.7 (p < 0.005). There were no adverse effects thought to be related to omeprazole suspension. Incidence of nosocomial pneumonia after beginning SOS was 28.3%. The cost of acquisition plus administration of SOS was $13.13 per day, whereas the cost of drug acquisition alone was $3.83 per day. CONCLUSION: In a prospective, evaluative study of 60 trauma patients who required mechanical ventilation and had at least one additional risk factor for stress ulcer development, omeprazole suspension prevented clinically significant gastrointestinal bleeding, maintained excellent control of gastric pH, produced no toxicity, and was the least costly medication alternative.

Selective application of laparoscopy and fibrin glue in the failure of nonoperative management of blunt hepatic trauma.

Year 1998
Chen RJ. Fang JF. Lin BC. Hsu YB. Kao JL. Kao YC. Chen MF.
Division of Trauma and Emergency Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
BACKGROUND: Most blunt hepatic trauma patients can be managed nonoperatively. The current failure rate in adult blunt hepatic trauma is reportedly 0 to 19%. We wished to evaluate the applicability of laparoscopy and fibrin glue as a minimally invasive alternative to laparotomy in these unsuccessfully nonoperative cases. METHODS: All adult patients with blunt hepatic trauma managed nonoperatively at Linkou, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, over a 2-year period from July 1, 1994, to June 30, 1996, were eligible for the study. A laparoscopic examination was performed on those who failed conservative care before undertaking an exploratory laparotomy. Fibrin glue was sprayed over the wound surface if ongoing hemorrhage was evident from any liver laceration. The clinical data, operative and laparoscopic findings, operative methods, and outcomes of these patients were studied. RESULTS: Of the 61 patients, 55 patients were successfully treated without operation. Of the six failures (10%) all were liver related. After the introduction of laparoscopy, the nontherapeutic laparotomy rate would have decreased from 100% (6 of 6) to 50% (3 of 6), and with the adjunctive use of fibrin glue, the laparotomy rate went down to 0% (0 of 6). There were no deaths among the six patients receiving laparoscopy and fibrin glues; and only one developed a liver abscess, for a morbidity rate of 17% (1 of 6). CONCLUSIONS: The selective use of laparoscopy and fibrin glue can effectively reduce the nontherapeutic laparotomy rate among blunt hepatic trauma patients who fail nonoperative management.

Tension pneumoperitoneum after blast injury: dramatic improvement in ventilatory and hemodynamic parameters after surgical decompression.

Year 1998
Oppenheim A. Pizov R. Pikarsky A. Weiss YG. Zamir G. Sprung CL. Rivkind A.
Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine, Hadassah Medical Center and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. galo@netvision.net.il
Tension pneumoperitoneum is a known although rare complication of barotrauma, which can accompany blast injury. We report two patients who suffered from severe pulmonary blast injury, accompanied by tension pneumoperitoneum, and who were severely hypoxemic, hypercarbic, and in shock. After surgical decompression of their pneumoperitoneum, respiratory and hemodynamic functions improved dramatically. Several mechanisms to explain this improvement are suggested. In such cases the release of the tension pneumoperitoneum is mandatory, and laparotomy with delayed closure can be contemplated.

New diagnostic peritoneal lavage criteria for diagnosis of intestinal injury.

Year 1998
Otomo Y. Henmi H. Mashiko K. Kato K. Koike K. Koido Y. Kimura A. Honma M. Inoue J. Yamamoto Y.
Department of Critical Care and Traumatology, National Hospital Tokyo Disaster Medical Center, Tachikawa, Japan. otomo@nms.ac.jp
BACKGROUND: Although diagnostic peritoneal lavage (DPL) is a well-established, reliably objective method of diagnosis of intraperitoneal injury, it is too sensitive to be used as an indicator for emergency celiotomy. Therefore, since the development of ultrasonography and advanced computed tomographic scanners, the role of DPL has been markedly reduced. Despite such remarkable advances, however, radiologic diagnosis of intestinal injury cannot always provide definitive results, and DPL may still be valuable in such instances. We have developed a new DPL criteria specifically designed to aid in the diagnosis of intestinal injury and have evaluated its effectiveness. METHODS: From August 1988 to December 1995, we performed DPL in 250 patients with blunt abdominal trauma and analyzed the diagnostic accuracy of our new criteria. We used the standard quantitative white blood cell (WBC) criterion for detection of intestinal injury supplemented by a positive-negative borderline adjusted to WBC > or = red blood cell (RBC)/150, where RBC > or = 10 x 10(4)/mm3. RESULTS: Our criteria had a diagnostic sensitivity of 96.6% and a specificity of 99.4% for intestinal injury after exclusion of 57 patients in whom DPL was performed within 3 hours or after 18 hours from the time of injury. In 133 patients with hemoperitoneum, emergency celiotomy was performed in only 48; the remaining 85 patients with negative DPL based on the WBC criterion avoided surgery, and conservative management resulted in no complications. CONCLUSION: With the proposed criteria, DPL can be used to diagnose or exclude intestinal injury even in the presence of hemoperitoneum.

Significance of peritoneal fluid as an isolated finding on abdominal computed tomographic scans in pediatric trauma patients.

Year 1998
Hulka F. Mullins RJ. Leonardo V. Harrison MW. Silberberg P.
Department of Surgery, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland 97201, USA.
BACKGROUND: Peritoneal fluid on abdominal computed tomographic (CT) scan in the absence of solid-organ injury suggests a bowel injury. We sought to determine the significance of peritoneal fluid as the sole finding on abdominal CT scans obtained to evaluate injured pediatric patients. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of abdominal CT scans obtained during the initial survey of blunt trauma patients less than 19 years old during a 5-year period (1991-1995). All patients received intravenous and oral contrast agents. All CT scans were read by a staff radiologist. All CT scan results were retrospectively verified by one of the authors. RESULTS: Of the 259 scans, 157 (59%) were read as normal; 76 (31%) demonstrated solid-organ injury or pelvic fracture; 2 (1%) had pneumoperitoneum and 24 (9%) had peritoneal fluid as the only finding. Quantification of the fluid was done using a previously described method. Of the 16 patients with a small amount of fluid, only 2 (12%) required celiotomy. Of the eight patients with a moderate amount of fluid, four (50%) required celiotomy. At celiotomy, the six patients all had small-bowel injuries. No abdominal CT scan demonstrated extravasation of oral contrast. CONCLUSION: Intra-abdominal fluid as the sole finding on abdominal CT scan does not mandate immediate celiotomy in the bluntly injured pediatric patient. The patient with fluid in more than one location has a 50% chance of bowel injury. We also conclude that extravasated enteral contrast is rarely present to aid in the diagnosis of bowel injury in children.