Penetrating Abdominal Trauma in Children

Abstract

Injury is the leading cause of death among children and adolescents, with about 10% of injuries being penetrating. Penetrating injuries that occur if a child falls or sits down on a long, sharp object are rare by their mechanism. So far we have experience in treating 5 children with penetrating injuries to the abdominal organs involving long sharp objects. 3 children were injured by falling on a metal fence, and the other 2 by sitting down on a metal pin and a scythe. The consequences of the injuries were damage to the small intestine (1), colon (4), stomach (1), kidney (1), urinary bladder (2).

Clinical cases. Two brothers, aged 11 and 12, who fell out of a tree on a metal fence from a height of about 3 meters, were brought Pediatric Municipal Clinical Hospital of Poltava Municipal Council with metal rods in their bodies. After preoperative preparation, the children were operated on. Removal of the foreign objects was performed in the operating room. One of the boys was found to have damage to the stomach, transverse colon, kidney crushing. Suturing of wounds of hollow organs, and nephrectomy were performed. The second boy was found to have damage to the rectum, a colostomy was performed with its subsequent closure.

A 16-year-old girl was injured when she sat down on a vertical scythe blade. During the operation, wounds of the ileum and mesentery of the hungry intestine were revealed, the wounds were sutured.

All children were discharged after they recovered.

The research was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The informed consent of the patient was obtained for conducting the studies.

No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.