title: Liver trauma usually means management of multiple injuries: analysis of 78 patients.
abstract: The liver is the second most traumatized organ in the abdominal cavity. The authors present a retrospective analysis of a group of 78 patients treated for this injury at one institution. In this group, there were 5 (6.41%) penetrating and 73 (93.59%) blunt trauma injuries. The mean Injury Severity Score (ISS) of the group was 31.6. Isolated liver trauma occurred in only three (3.84%) cases. At the same time, chest injury occurred in 89.84%, head injury occurred in 74.64%, limb injury occurred in 32.05%, and spinal or pelvic injury occurred in 26.92% of patients. Trauma to other intra-abdominal organs was found in 82.97% of patients, and surgical intervention was necessary in 51.06%. The routine use of helical computed tomography with contrast showed a sensitivity of 88.76% and 95.50%, respectively. Liver bleeding resulted in three (3.84%) patient deaths. Overall mortality was 29.48%. The mean period of hospitalization on the intensive care unit was 27.42 days. At present, liver trauma cannot be separated from multiple injuries; morbidity and mortality depend more on the affiliated trauma than on specific liver injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Central Military Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic. chmatal@seznam.cz
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chmatal
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kupka
authors.forename: Zbynek
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fuksa
authors.forename: Frantisek
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Belina
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hasek
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Voldrich
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003422:Critical Care; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000293:injuries*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating