[Diagnostic laparocentesis in closed abdominal injury]

To improve the diagnosis of closed abdominal trauma since 1966 the authors have been widely employing laparocentesis. The results of using abdominal punctures an 260 patients are reported. The method proved to be reliable in 97.7%. The use of laparocentesis enabled the authors to reduce the number of errors by 7.3 times, to shorten the terms of establishing the diagnosis by 4 times as compared with the control group of patients (190 subjects in whom the recognition of abdominal injuries is based on common clinical symptoms).