[Blunt and penetrating abdominal injuries]

During the last 10 years 0.45% of all our patients were operated on because of blunt (92) or penetrating (22) abdominal trauma. In the acute phase, diagnosis can be made on clinical symptoms alone. Of the early diagnostic procedures, peritoneal lavage is most reliable. Laparoscopy, ultrasonography, computed tomography, and arteriography are procedures used later, but only when the patient's circulation is stable. The most frequent injury encountered is splenic rupture, followed by rupture of the liver and gastrointestinal tract. When one single organ is injured, lethality is under 10% and grows to more than 30% when several organs are injured.