Immediate versus expedient emergent laparotomy in unstable isolated abdominal trauma patients

Unstable abdominal trauma patients should be treated with emergent laparotomy. However, few studies have evaluated the association between time to surgery and survival in these patients. We aimed to assess the influence of time to laparotomy on outcomes in blunt and penetrating unstable abdominal trauma patients.

This retrospective study includes patients with abdominal injuries, systolic blood pressure <90mmHg on arrival, admitted in Israel during 2000-2018. Data regarding patients' characteristics, Injury Severity Score (ISS), Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), time to surgery, length of hospital stay and mortality were collected via The Israeli National Trauma Registry.

Overall, 69 blunt and 127 penetrating injury patients were included in the study. For blunt and penetrating trauma patients with ISS ≤14, no differences in outcome were found between patients who underwent laparotomy within 60min of admission and those who underwent laparotomy within 60-120min of admission. In patients with blunt trauma, ISS ≥16, and GCS <15, mortality was higher in the immediate laparotomy group (p = 0.004 and 0.049, respectively).

In patients with a penetrating injury, no differences in mortality between immediate and expedient laparotomy were demonstrated. In patients with a blunt injury, with ISS ≥16 and GCS <15, mortality was higher among the immediate laparotomy group.