Associated trauma with urinary tract injuries.

The authors analyze the peculiarities in the diagnostic and curative behavior in cases of associated traumatic injuries with participation of the urinary system in adults and children. A trauma is defined as associated when one kind of traumatic agent affects more then one organ or system. The authors do not discuss the combined trauma where we observe different damaging agents as for example mechanical trauma plus radiation or burn. The experience of the treatment of 64 children and 109 adults suffering from associated traumatic injuries for the period 1981-1997 has been summarized. In cases of associated traumatic injuries the kidneys are the most common participants on the part of the urinary system (70.3% of the children and 51.4% of the adults). On the second place we witness bladder damages in adults and urethra damages in children. The data concerning the combination between urological trauma and other organs traumas are available in details - the most common are: bone fractures, lesions of intraabdominal organs, skull and brain traumas, etc. The three basic problems caused by such kind of trauma are also discussed - organizational, diagnostic and curative. At the end the authors present the most typical characteristics of associated traumatic injuries in children compared to those in adults. (C) 2002 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.