• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• 제35권1호
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• pp.66-70
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• 2022

The spleen is the most commonly injured organ after blunt abdominal trauma. Nonoperative management (NOM) is the standard treatment for blunt splenic injuries in haemodynamically stable patients without peritonitis. Complications of NOM include rebleeding, new pseudoaneurysm formation, splenic abscess, and symptomatic splenic infarction. These complications hinder the NOM of patients with blunt splenic injuries. We report a case in which a large haemorrhagic fluid collection that occurred after angio-embolisation was resolved by percutaneous drainage in a patient with liver cirrhosis who experienced a blunt spleen injury.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.91-97
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• 2017

Purpose: Purpose: The prognostic factors of non-operative management (NOM) in high-grade spleen injuries have been extensively studied, but factors that would help treatment decisions are lacking. We compared the characteristics of the patients to identify the factors affecting treatment choices. Methods: This is a review of 207 blunt spleen injury patients from January 2004 to December 2013. We compared clinical features and mortality between surgery and NOM, and used multivariate regression analysis to find the factor most strongly associated with prognosis. Results: Of the 207 patients, 107 had high-grade spleen injury patents (grade III or above). Of these, 42 patients underwent surgery and 65 patients underwent NOM. The mortality was 7% following surgery, 3% with NOM. The amount of packed red blood cells transfused in the first 24 hours and spleen injury grade were associated with management type, and mortality was highly associated with activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) and spleen injury grade. Conclusions: The grade of spleen injury was associated with management and mortality, so correctly assessing the spleen injury grade is important.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• 제31권2호
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• pp.87-90
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• 2018

Non-operative management has been preferred in blunt spleen injury. Moreover children are more susceptible to post-splenectomy infection, spleen should be preserved if possible. However, splenectomy is inevitable to patients with severe splenic injury. Therefore splenic autotransplantation could be the last chance for preserving splenic function in these patients although efficacy has not proven. Here we reported four cases of children who were underwent splenic autotransplantation successfully after blunt trauma.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.193-198
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• 2009

Purpose: This study evaluated the characteristics and the prognosis of multiple intraabdominal solid organ injuries, including those to the liver, spleen, and kidney, after blunt trauma. Methods: From January 2001 to March 2009, 39 patients with multiple intraabdominal solid organ injuries, which had been confirmed by contrast-enhanced computed tomography after blunt trauma, were included in this retrospective study. The injury severity score (ISS), abbreviated injury scale (AIS), revised trauma score (RTS), American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) injury grade of solid organs, initial hemodynamic status, blood gas analysis, blood transfusion, and the mortality were the main outcome measurements. Results: Injured groups were classified into liver/kidney (n=17), liver/spleen (n=4), spleen/kidney (n=13), and liver/kidney/spleen (n=5) groups. Patients were older in the liver/kidney group than in the liver/kidney/spleen group (43 vs 18 years, p=0.023). The initial systolic blood pressures tended to be lower in the liver/kidney group than in the other groups (84 vs 105, 112, and 114 mmHg, p=0.087). The amounts of 24-hour packed RBC transfusion were 32 units in the liver/kidney group and 4 units in the liver/kidney/spleen group, but the difference was not statistically significant. Differences were found in neither the RTS, ISS, and AIS for head, chest, abdominal, and pelvic injuries nor the AAST injury grade for solid organ, but injuries to the chest were more severe in the liver/spleen group than in the spleen/kidney group (AIS 4.0 vs 2.8, p=0.028). Conservative treatment was the most frequent applied treatment in all groups. There were 6 mortalities : 3 due to hypovolemia, 2 to sepsis, and 1 to brain injury. Mortalities occurred only in the liver/kidney group. Conclusion: Patients who had intraabdominal solid organ injuries of the liver and the kidney simultaneously, tended to be transfused more at an early time after trauma, to have lower initial systolic blood pressures, and to have a higher mortality.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.119-126
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• 2007

Trauma is one of the leading causes of death in children. Abdominal trauma is about 10 % of all pediatric trauma. This study describes the sex and age distribution, injury mechanism, site of intraabdominal injury, management and mortality of children aged 16 years or less who suffered abdominal trauma. The hospital records of 63 patients treated for abdominal injury between March 1997 and February 2007 at the department of surgery, Inje University Pusan Paik Hospital, were analyzed retrospectively. The peak age of incidence was between 2 and 10 years (78%) and this report showed male predominance(2.7:1). The most common mechanism of blunt abdominal trauma was pedestrian traffic accident (49%). The most common injured organ was liver. More than Grade IV injury of liver and spleen comprised of 4(12%) and 5(24%), respectively. Fourteen cases (22%) had multiple organ injuries. Forty nine cases (78%) were managed nonoperatively. Three patients (4.8%) died, who had Grade IV liver injury, Grade IV spleen injury, and liver and spleen injury with combined inferior vena cava injury, respectively. All of the three mortality cases had operative management. In conclusion, the liver or spleen injury which was more than Grade 4 might lead to mortality in spite of operation, although many cases could be improved by nonoperative management.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.115-125
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• 2014

Purpose: Stable vital signs (SVSs) are thought to be the most important criteria for successful non-operative management (NOM) of blunt spleen injury (BSI). However, a consistent definition of SVSs has been lacking. We wanted to evaluate the diversity of the definitions of SVSs by using a nationwide survey. Methods: A questionnaire regarding the definition of SVSs was sent to the trauma surgeons working at the Department of Trauma Surgery and Emergency Medicine at a level-I trauma center between October 2011 and November 2011. Data were compared using analyses of the variance, t-tests, ${\chi}^2$ tests and logistic regressions. Results: Among 201 surgeons, 198 responded (98.2%). Of these 198 responses, 45 were incomplete, so only 153 (76.1%) were analyzed. In defining the SVSs, significant diversity existed on the subjects of type of blood pressure (BP), cut-off value for hypotension, technique for measuring BP, duration of hypotension, whether or not to use the heart rate (HR) as a determinant, cut-off value of hypotension when the patient had a comorbidity or when the patient was a child. Of the 153 surgeons whose responses were analyzed, 91.5% replied that they were confused when defining SVSs. Conclusion: Confusion exists regarding how to define SVSs. Most surveyed surgeons felt that a need existed to clarify both the definition of SVSs and the use of SVSs to determine hemodynamic stability for NOM.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.52-55
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• 2011

The spleen is the most frequently injured organ following blunt abdominal trauma. However, delayed splenic rupture is rare. As the technical improvement of computed tomography has proceeded, the diagnosis of splenic injury has become easier than before. However, the diagnosis of delayed splenic rupture could be challenging if the trauma is minor and remote. We present a case of delayed splenic rupture in a patient with underlying liver cirrhosis. A 42-year-old male visited our emergency department with pain in the lower left chest following minor blunt trauma. Initial physical exam and abdominal sonography revealed only liver cirrhosis without traumatic injury. On the sixth day after trauma, he complained of abdominal pain and diarrhea after eating snacks. The patient was misdiagnosed as having acute gastroenteritis until he presented with symptoms of shock. Abdominal sonography and computed tomography revealed the splenic rupture. The patient underwent a splenectomy and then underwent a second operation due to postoperative bleeding 20 hours after the first operation. The patient was discharged uneventfully 30 days after trauma. In the present case, the thrombocytopenia and splenomegaly due to liver cirrhosis are suspected of being risk factors for the development of delayed splenic rupture. The physician should keep in mind the possibility of delayed splenic rupture following blunt abdominal or chest trauma.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• 제29권2호
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• pp.47-50
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• 2016

Transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) for blunt hepatic injury in children is not common and is especially rare after damage control surgery (DCS). We report a successful TAE after DCS on a child for massive bleeding from the left hepatic artery due to a motor vehicle accident. The car (a sport utility vehicle) ran over the chest and abdomen of a 4-year-old boy. On arrival, initial vital signs were as follows: blood pressure, 70/40 mmHg; heart rate, 149/min; temperature, $36.7^{\circ}C$; respiratory rate, 38/min. After resuscitation, computed tomography was done, and a suspicious contrast leakage from a branch of the left hepatic artery and a spleen injury (grade V) were found. TAE was performed successfully after DCS for a liver injury.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.192-195
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• 2010

Splenic rupture is a frequent surgical emergency in blunt abdominal trauma patients. There are several treatment options, including conservative treatment, a partial splenectomy, splenorrhaphy, and a splenectomy for splenic injury. Although reports on the safety and the efficacy of an elective laparoscopic splenectomy are abundant in the literature, a laparoscopic splenectomy for a ruptured spleen has only been reported in a few cases. We report a case of a laparoscopic splenectomy in the patient with Grade III traumatic splenic injury. To our knowledge, this is the first report in which a laparoscopic splenectomy was performed in Korea for the treatment of a traumatic splenic injury.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• 제45권4호
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• pp.246-250
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• 2012

Background: Although it is rare for the fracture itself to become a life threatening injury in patients suffering from rib fracture, the lives of these patients are occasionally threatened by other associated injuries. Especially, early discovery of patients with rib fracture and intra-abdominal organ injury is extremely important to the prognosis. This study analyzed the link between rib fracture and intra-abdominal injury to achieve improved treatment. Materials and Methods: Among trauma patients that had visited the hospital emergency room from January 2007 to December 2009, a retrospective study was conducted on 453 patients suffering from rib fracture due to blunt trauma. Rib fracture was classified according to location (left, right, and bilateral), and according to level (upper rib fracture [1-2nd rib], middle rib fracture [3-8th rib], and lower rib fracture [9-12th rib]). The researched data was statistically compared and analyzed to investigate the correlation between the location, level, and number of rib fracture and intra-abdominal organ injury. Results: Motor vehicle injury was found to be the most common mechanism of injury with 208 cases (46%). Associated injuries accompanied with rib fracture were generated in 276 cases (61%). Intra-abdominal organ injury was discovered in 97 cases (21%). Liver injury was the most common intra-abdominal injury associated with rib fracture with 39 cases (40%), followed by spleen injury, with 23 cases (23%). Intra-abdominal injury according to level of rib fracture was presented as upper rib fracture in 11 cases (11%), middle rib fracture in 31 cases (32%), and lower rib fracture in 55 cases (57%), thus verifying that intra-abdominal injuries were commonly accompanied in lower rib fractures (p=0.03). In particular, significant increase of intra-abdominal injury was presented in fractures below the 8th rib (p=0.03). The number of intra-abdominal injuries requiring emergency operations was significantly higher in patients with more than 6 rib fractures (p=0.04). Conclusion: Intra-abdominal organ injury is more common in patients with lower rib fracture, especially fractures below the 8th rib. Intra-abdominal organ injuries generated in multiple rib fracture patients with more than 6 fractures significantly higher severity. These cases must be thoroughly inspected and carefully observed as there is possibility of emergency operation.