A multidisciplinary approach in the management of hepatic injuries

We reviewed 87 patients with hepatic injuries who were admitted to King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, from January 1995 to December 1999; 76% of them had sustained blunt trauma and 24% penetrating trauma. Their injury severity scores (ISS) ranged from 4 to 57 (mean 20.94+/-12.8); 50% of them were in shock on arrival; 8.1, 28.7, 25.3, 19.5, and 18.4% suffered from hepatic injuries graded I, II, III, IV, and V, respectively. Seventeen patients (19.5%) were successfully managed non-operatively; three of them underwent hepatic angiography, which in two revealed leakage of contrast medium from the right hepatic artery; both were successfully treated by embolization. One patient had bile leakage and collection, which was successfully treated by ultrasound-guided percutaneous drainage. Seventy patients (80.5%) underwent exploratory laparotomy; nine of them died in the operating room. Of the remaining 61 who left the operating room alive, 21 had perihepatic packing, which was frequently used in those with injuries to segments V, VI, VII, and VIII (Couinaud's nomenclature). Eight patients who had packing and one who had not died in the postoperative period. Two patients who had packing underwent subsequent hepatic angiography with embolization before successful pack removal. The overall mortality was 20.7%. The mortality in complex hepatic injuries (grades IV and V) was 13 out of 33 (39.4%). We believe that non-operative management should be considered in haemodynamically stable patients. Angiography with embolization is invaluable in improving outcome in both non-operative and operative patients. Perihepatic packing is life-saving in complex hepatic injuries that cannot be effectively treated by simple surgical procedures. Finally, ultrasound- or CT-guided percutaneous drainage of bile leakage or collections spared a number of patients from open and complicated surgery.