Isolated Blunt Duodenal Trauma: Simple Repair, Low Mortality

Optimal surgical management of traumatic duodenal injury (DI) remains controversial. The National Trauma Data Bank was queried for all blunt trauma patients with DI. Patients with isolated injury were identified by excluding chest and head Abbreviated Injury Score > 3 and nonduodenal intra-abdominal Organ Injury Scale ≥ 3. Demographics, OIS, and operative intervention were collected. Outcomes included mortality and hospital length of stay (HLOS). During the study period, 3,456,098 blunt trauma patients were entered into the National Trauma Data Bank, 388,137 of which had abdominal trauma. Overall, 1.0 per cent patients with abdominal trauma had DI with isolated DI in only 0.6 per cent (n = 2220). The majority of isolated DI was low grade with only 158 patients sustaining severe injury and overall mortality was 5.2 per cent. Overall 743 patients were operated, of which 353 (47.5%) patients underwent duodenal operation, 280 (37.7%) had primary repair (PR), and 68 (9.2%) had gastroenterostomy (GE). Patients with PR had similar mortality to those with GE (6.6% vs 4.5%, P = 0.777); however, HLOS was shorter (median 11 days, vs 18 days, P < 0.001). In only OIS 4 and 5 injuries, PR was also associated with shorter HLOS (P = 0.004) and similar mortality (P = 1.000) when compared with GE. Isolated DI after blunt abdominal trauma is rare. In severe injuries, PR is associated with a shorter HLOS without effecting mortality when compared with GE.