[Conservative treatment of hepatic injuries. Management and course]

From January 1986 to June 1994, 252 cases of closed liver trauma were treated in an emergency setting. Non surgical conservative management, after a complete imaging work-up including CT scan in all cases, was applied in 142 cases (56.3%) with no hemodynamic complication. The spontaneous outcome in these cases was quite favourable in 131 (92.2%); all lesions had disappeared in 4 to 36 weeks. Complications were observed in only 6 cases: 2 intrahepatic abscesses managed with percutaneous drainage were not further complicated, 1 biliari fistula required surgical exploration, 1 intrahepatic bilioma was drained percutaneously, 1 disinsertion of the gallbladder was treated by laparoscopy and 1 operation for bleeding was required 48 hours after the trauma in 1 case. No deaths could be directly imputed to the liver trauma, 5 patients died from neurological causes. Non-surgical conservative treatment combined with strict prolonged surveillance is a reliable management option for patients with closed liver trauma.