Abdominal injuries in Nigerian children.

A retrospective review of cases of abdominal injuries in children at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital in Nigeria show that 195 cases were seen over a 10-year period (1980-1989). A majority of the cases (83.6%) resulted from road traffic accidents, and 152 (77.9%) were either brought in dead or died shortly after arrival in the emergency room. The sex incidence was about equal. The spleen and liver were the two most commonly injured abdominal organs. However, there was a high incidence of multiple organ injury in those patients who died before treatment could be given. None of the 43 children who had clinical intervention died though one of the 12 children who had splenectomy subsequently developed postsplenectomy sepsis from which she recovered. Three children had splenorrhaphy and one had partial splenectomy with good results.