Abdominal Trauma: Never Underestimate It

Introduction. We present a case of a sports injury. The initial presentation and clinical examination belied serious intra-abdominal injuries. Case Presentation. A 16-year-old male patient came to emergency department after a sports-related blunt abdominal injury. Though on clinical examination the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Aakash N. Bodhit, Anjali Bhagra, Latha Ganti Stead
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2011-01-01
Series:Case Reports in Emergency Medicine
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/850625
Description
Summary:Introduction. We present a case of a sports injury. The initial presentation and clinical examination belied serious intra-abdominal injuries. Case Presentation. A 16-year-old male patient came to emergency department after a sports-related blunt abdominal injury. Though on clinical examination the injury did not seem to be serious, FAST revealed an obscured splenorenal window. The CT scan revealed a large left renal laceration and a splenic laceration that were managed with Cook coil embolization. Patient remained tachycardic though and had to undergo splenectomy, left nephrectomy, and a repair of left diaphragmatic rent. Patient had no complication and had normal renal function at 6-month followup. Conclusion. The case report indicates that management of blunt intra-abdominal injury is complicated and there is a role for minimally invasive procedures in management of certain patients. A great deal of caution is required in monitoring these patients, and surgical intervention is inevitable in deteriorating patients.
ISSN:2090-648X
2090-6498