[Surgical management of liver trauma (author's transl)]

Surgical management and follow up of 85 patients with liver trauma are reported. 20 patients had only liver trauma, all others were polytraumatised. Letality was 20% in patients with sole liver trauma, the overall letality was 43%. In most cases death resulted from prolonged circulatory shock. Most of the other casualities resulted from septical complications of biliary peritonitis. Prognosis was mainly correlated with the interval between trauma and surgical treatment as well as with the amount of blood lost. The main features of the operative technic were access to the liver through a subcostal and sometimes transdiaphragmal incision, temporary tamponade of the bleeding source, compression of the hepatoduodenal ligament, of the vena cava (intrapericardial) to minimize blood loss. Instead of hemihepatectomy, resection of liver tissue was limited to the smallest amount possible, and followed by extensive drainage.