Results of non-operative management of blunt renal trauma

A study of 84 patients with blunt renal trauma has revealed that expectant, non-operative management of the clinically stable patient with either minor or more severe injuries (excluding vascular pedicle trauma) gives satisfactory results and entails few subsequent complications. The nephrectomy rate with expectant management is markedly lower than that reported after an immediate operation. The salvage of functioning renal tissue appears to be commensurate with angiographic delineation of devascularized tissue and would seem to be comparable to that of patients afforded immediate surgical intervention, without the threat of loss of the renal unit that appears to be entailed by early operation.