title: Blunt renal trauma in children: 26 years clinical experience in an alpine region.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  From 1975 to 2001, 254 children aged younger than 17 were transferred to our department for renal trauma. We performed a retrospective study to assess causality and kind of the trauma, diagnostic procedures and therapeutic consequences, respectively.
  
  
  METHODS
  The 254 children at a mean age of 10.56 years (+/-3.8) ranging from 2 to 17 years were treated for kidney trauma. Among these, 166 presented with a grade I trauma according to the kidney injury scale of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma without any other accompanying injuries and 88 had a grade II-V lesion, respectively. Diagnostic evaluation included various standard lab tests such as urinalysis and routine blood parameters, ultrasound, IVP and/or CT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most of the traumatic injuries resulted from skiing accidents. However, 18 children had a severe polytrauma with laceration of other vital organs. Most of the renal injuries could be treated conservatively. Surgical treatment options included immediate exploration, reconstruction, partial resection, or even nephrectomy. No child died.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Due to leisure time activities in our region, skiing accidents often result in isolated laceration of the kidney. About one third presented with a severe kidney trauma, and approximately 20% of all affected children required surgical therapy. However, most of the injured kidneys could be preserved and only four nephrectomies had to be performed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Innsbruck, A-6020, Anichstr. 35, Innsbruck, Austria. christian.radmayr@uibk.ac.at
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Radmayr
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oswald
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Lorenz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Höltl
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bartsch
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls; D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000293:Adolescent; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology; D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000293:injuries*; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012865:Skiing / Q000293:injuries*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*