Peritoneal lavage after abdominal trauma: indications, technique, results

This study represents our experience with 1461 patients who were seen in the Emergency Room of the University Hospital in Ghent with multiple traumatic lesions, between 1978 and 1982. In 43% of these polytraumata, we did an explorative peritoneal lavage in order to obtain a quick evaluation of intrabdominal haemorrhage. In 65% of the patients, the lavage was negative; 221 positive lavages (35%) underwent abdominal exploration; in 85% of these there were evident positive findings. The remaining 15% showed either no lesions, or minor lesions not involving risk of life. The overall accuracy-rate of the technique described above is at least 93%.