Management of blunt liver trauma in a tertiary referral centre

In recent years, several reports from North America have highlighted the success of conservative treatment in patients with blunt liver trauma. The aim of this study was to identify trends in the management of blunt liver trauma in a UK tertiary referral centre dealing with both adults and children over a 10-year period.

A retrospective case note review was performed on 71 consecutive patients (58 male patients) of median age 25 years admitted to the hepatobiliary unit over the 10-year period from 1992 to 2001 with blunt liver trauma. Data relating to referring source, severity of liver injury, initial and subsequent management and outcome were collected using a standard pro forma.

Sixty-two of the 71 patients were referred from other surgical units. Of these, 14 had undergone laparotomy at the referring hospital, with ten having perihepatic packing; the other 48 were managed conservatively. Of the 62 patients transferred to the authors' unit, 12 required surgical intervention for the liver injury. The mean number of patients with blunt liver trauma increased between the first second 5-year periods, from 3.2 to 11.0 patients per year. There was a significant reduction in the proportion of patients requiring surgery for the liver injury in both the authors' unit (from seven of 16 patients in 1992-1996 to seven of 55 in 1997-2001; P = 0.017, chi(2) test) and referring hospitals (from six of 12 to eight of 50; P = 0.014, chi(2) test). The reduction in the mortality rate, from two (12.5 per cent) of 16 in the first period to four (7.3 per cent) of 55 in the second, was not significant (P = 0.880, chi(2) test).

This study demonstrated a marked increase in the number of patients with blunt liver trauma referred to a regional hepatobiliary centre in recent years. It has confirmed that the majority of such patients can be treated successfully without surgery.