Spectrum of paediatric blunt abdominal trauma in a tertiary care hospital in India

To study the profile of paediatric blunt abdominal trauma and to assess the correlation of grade of injury with the outcome.

It is a prospective observational study from January 2015 to December 2020. Children below 12 years with blunt abdominal trauma were included. Patient demographic data, treatment given and the final outcome were recorded. All patients were followed up for a minimum of 6 months to maximum 5 years.

A total of 68 patients were included in the study. Fall from height was the most common mode of injury (62%) followed by road traffic accidents (35%) and the other causes included in the miscellaneous group (hit by animal and fall of heavy object on the abdomen; 3%). Most commonly injured organ was liver (n = 28, 41%) followed by spleen (n = 18, 26%) and kidney (n = 15, 22%). Other injuries were bowel perforations (jejunal [n = 4], ileal [n = 1] and large bowel [n = 1]; 9%), pancreaticoduodenal (n = 5, 7%), urinary bladder (n = 3, 4%), abdominal vascular injury (iliac vein-1, inferior vena cava-1;3%), adrenal haematoma (n = 2,3%) and common bile duct (CBD) injury (n = 1, 1%). More than one organ injury was seen in 13 cases (19%). Non-operative management was successful in 84% (n = 27) and laparotomy was done in 16% (n = 11). Most of the patients sustained Grade IV injury (n = 36, 53%) and majority of the patients (n = 60, 88%) had good outcome without any long-term complications.

Profile of paediatric blunt abdominal trauma include solid organ injuries such as liver, spleen, kidney, pancreas, adrenal gland and others like bowel injury, CBD, urinary bladder and abdominal vascular injury. The grade of injury does not correlate with the outcome in a higher grade of injury and these children had good outcome.