Prognostic factors for traumatic bowel injuries: killing time

Intestinal rupture/perforation after abdominal trauma is a rare complication, but it is related to significant morbidity and mortality. Our objective is to identify determinants of prognosis in patients surgically treated for a bowel injury (small bowel and colon) after abdominal trauma.

The present study is a retrospective analysis of 102 patients seen at our hospital during a 10-year period in whom laparotomy for traumatic bowel injury was performed. Predictors for morbidity and mortality were assessed in univariate and multivariate analysis models.

Mean age at diagnosis was 40 years, and most patients were male. There was a slight preponderance of blunt abdominal trauma, and the most frequent mechanism of injury was motor vehicle accident. In 75% of patients there was a small bowel lesion, and the colon was affected in 47%. There was no statistical relation between stoma construction and mortality, but an increase in morbidity was ultimately dependent on the severity of the underlying trauma. The univariate determinants of mortality were the new injury severity score (NISS) and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) scores, the presence of blunt trauma and multiple intestinal or extra-abdominal lesions, and the elapsed time to surgery. The occurrence of postoperative complications was related to all these factors, as well as to tachycardia, hypotension, and bleeding. In multivariate analysis ASA score (p = 0.015), NISS (p = 0.002), time to surgery (p = 0.007), and presence of colonic lesions (p = 0.02) were identified as independent prognostic factors for postoperative morbidity.

The only modifiable determinant of morbidity seems to be the time to surgery. Only an expeditious evaluation and diagnosis and prompt surgical intervention can improve the prognosis of these patients.