Management of Abdominal Solid Organ Injury After Blunt Trauma

Injury to the solid abdominal organs-liver, spleen, kidney, and pancreas-is one of the most common injury patterns in pediatric blunt trauma. Pediatric trauma centers are becoming increasingly successful in managing these injuries without operative intervention. Well-validated guidelines have been established for liver and spleen injury management, and operative intervention is reserved for patients who show evidence of active bleeding after resuscitation. No such guidelines yet exist for the management of traumatic injury of the kidney or pancreas. Exploratory laparotomy remains the treatment of choice in patients suffering hemodynamic collapse, but interventional radiologic or endoscopic procedures are increasingly used to manage all but the most devastating solid organ injuries.