Liver trauma: What current management?

The liver is the most commonly damaged organ in abdominal trauma. The management of liver trauma has experienced many changes over the last two decades. Currently there is a trend toward a non-operative treatment warranted by the successful pediatric experience and better results recorded in many trauma centers worldwide. This study aimed to evaluate outcomes of operative and non-operative management of liver trauma in our institution over the last five years.

The patients with a diagnosis of blunt or penetrating liver injuries, admitted and managed in our hospital from January 2012 to December 2016 were retrospectively studied. The patients were divided into 2 groups, operated and non-operated groups, according to the initial management considered appropriate at the time of patient admission. Clinical features and outcomes were analyzed.

The study involved 83 patients, with a mean age of 33 years and a marked male predominance (85.5%). The most common type of lesions was blunt trauma and the main cause was road traffic accidents. Sixty-eight liver injuries (81.9%) were of low severity (grades I, II, III), while 15 (18.1%) were of high severity (grade IV or greater). Fifty-six patients (67.5%) had multiple injuries. Surgical treatment was performed in 26 (31.3%) patients. Non-operative management was undertaken in 57 cases (68.7%). The morbidity and mortality rates were clearly lower in non-operative patients compared to those in the operated group.

Careful non-operative management is an adequate therapeutic strategy for the patients suffering from liver trauma with stable hemodynamics. Patients with complex hepatic trauma and especially those with other organ injuries continue to have significantly higher mortality.