Ruptured spleen in the adult: an account of 205 cases with particular reference to non-operative management. Papua New Guinea Splenic Injury Study Group.

A series of 205 ruptured adult spleens, half of them due to personal assault, has been collected from several hospitals. In some of these cases a trial of non-operative management has become standard practice unless other abdominal injuries are suspected. One hundred and thirty-seven cases were managed this way initially, successfully so in 80%. Splenectomy was performed in 70 patients with eight deaths; three of them in the 27 instances where non-operative management was said to have failed. None of these eight deaths was due to operative delay.