Therapeutic perihepatic packing in complex liver trauma.

Packing for control of haemorrhage was used in 22 of 294 patients undergoing surgery for liver trauma over a 6-year period. The major indication for packing was transfusion-induced coagulopathy. Sixteen patients had blunt trauma and six penetrating trauma including five gunshot wounds; 19 patients had major right lobe injuries, three left lobe and five also had hepatic vein injuries. Packing provided definitive control of bleeding in 18 patients but four patients had recurrent bleeding due to hepatic artery injury (three) and hepatic vein injury (one); three required further surgery and bleeding was controlled in the fourth by selective hepatic artery embolization. Six patients died and in two of these recurrent bleeding, despite packs, was a contributing factor. Mean blood loss in the six patients who died was 18 (range 10-30) units, compared with 13.1 (range 8-30) units in survivors. Packs were removed from the 16 survivors at laparotomy at a mean of 3.1 days after insertion; six patients rebled during pack extraction and were successfully repacked. Major morbidity occurred in 12 of the 16 survivors. Seven patients developed intra-abdominal sepsis following packing, one of whom died. Therapeutic liver packing provides life-saving control of hepatic bleeding which is frequently aggravated by coagulopathy. This approach permits resuscitation in an intensive care unit and subsequent planned relaparotomy for retrieval of packs and further intervention as necessary.