BACKGROUND: Nonoperative management of blunt splenic injury (BSI) has become the standard of care for hemodynamically stable patients. Successful nonoperative management raises two related questions: (1) what is the time course for splenic healing and (2) when may patients safely return to usual activities? There is little evidence to guide surgeon recommendations regarding return to full activities. Our hypothesis was that time to healing is related to severity of BSI. METHODS: The trauma registry at a level I trauma center was queried for patients diagnosed with a BSI managed nonoperatively between 2002 and 2007. Follow-up abdominal computed tomography scans were reviewed with attention to progression to healing of BSI. Kaplan-Meier curves were compared for mild (American Association for the Surgery of Trauma grades I-II) and severe (grades III-V) BSI. RESULTS: Six hundred thirty-seven patients (63.9% mild spleen injury and 36.1% severe injury) with a BSI were eligible for analysis. Fifty-one patients had documented healing as inpatients. Ninety-seven patients discharged with BSI had outpatient computed tomography scans. Nine had worsening of BSI as outpatients and two (1 mild and 1 severe) required intervention (2 splenectomies). Thirty-three outpatients were followed to complete healing. Mild injuries had faster mean time to healing compared with severe (12.5 vs. 37.2 days, p < 0.001). Most healing occurred within 2 months but approximately 20% of each group had not healed after 3 months. CONCLUSION: Although mild BSIs heal faster than severe BSIs, nearly 10% of all the BSIs followed as outpatients worsened. Close observation of patients with BSI should continue until healing can be confirmed.
BACKGROUND: Nonoperative management of blunt splenic injury (BSI) has become the standard of care for hemodynamically stable patients. Successful nonoperative management raises two related questions: (1) what is the time course for splenic healing and (2) when may patients safely return to usual activities? There is little evidence to guide surgeon recommendations regarding return to full activities. Our hypothesis was that time to healing is related to severity of BSI. METHODS: The trauma registry at a level I trauma center was queried for patients diagnosed with a BSI managed nonoperatively between 2002 and 2007. Follow-up abdominal computed tomography scans were reviewed with attention to progression to healing of BSI. Kaplan-Meier curves were compared for mild (American Association for the Surgery of Trauma grades I-II) and severe (grades III-V) BSI. RESULTS: Six hundred thirty-seven patients (63.9% mild spleen injury and 36.1% severe injury) with a BSI were eligible for analysis. Fifty-one patients had documented healing as inpatients. Ninety-seven patients discharged with BSI had outpatient computed tomography scans. Nine had worsening of BSI as outpatients and two (1 mild and 1 severe) required intervention (2 splenectomies). Thirty-three outpatients were followed to complete healing. Mild injuries had faster mean time to healing compared with severe (12.5 vs. 37.2 days, p < 0.001). Most healing occurred within 2 months but approximately 20% of each group had not healed after 3 months. CONCLUSION: Although mild BSIs heal faster than severe BSIs, nearly 10% of all the BSIs followed as outpatients worsened. Close observation of patients with BSI should continue until healing can be confirmed.
Authors: Catherine M Dickinson; Roberto J Vidri; Alexis D Smith; Hale E Wills; Francois I Luks Journal: Pediatr Surg Int Date: 2018-09-07 Impact factor: 1.827
Authors: Mauro Podda; Belinda De Simone; Marco Ceresoli; Francesco Virdis; Francesco Favi; Johannes Wiik Larsen; Federico Coccolini; Massimo Sartelli; Nikolaos Pararas; Solomon Gurmu Beka; Luigi Bonavina; Raffaele Bova; Adolfo Pisanu; Fikri Abu-Zidan; Zsolt Balogh; Osvaldo Chiara; Imtiaz Wani; Philip Stahel; Salomone Di Saverio; Thomas Scalea; Kjetil Soreide; Boris Sakakushev; Francesco Amico; Costanza Martino; Andreas Hecker; Nicola de'Angelis; Mircea Chirica; Joseph Galante; Andrew Kirkpatrick; Emmanouil Pikoulis; Yoram Kluger; Denis Bensard; Luca Ansaloni; Gustavo Fraga; Ian Civil; Giovanni Domenico Tebala; Isidoro Di Carlo; Yunfeng Cui; Raul Coimbra; Vanni Agnoletti; Ibrahima Sall; Edward Tan; Edoardo Picetti; Andrey Litvin; Dimitrios Damaskos; Kenji Inaba; Jeffrey Leung; Ronald Maier; Walt Biffl; Ari Leppaniemi; Ernest Moore; Kurinchi Gurusamy; Fausto Catena Journal: World J Emerg Surg Date: 2022-10-12 Impact factor: 8.165